RIP, Dolores O’Riordan

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Jedadiah Leland

I was shocked to hear that Dolores O’Riordan died in London earlier today. If you grew up in the 90s, the music that she made with the Cranberries was a permanent part of the soundtrack of the decade. 46 is far too young an age to be taken away.

Music Video of the Day: Ridin’ The Rails by Johnny Cash (1974, dir by Nicholas Webster)

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

When I saw The Commuter at the Alamo Drafthouse yesterday, this video was shown as a part of the pre-show. It’s actually taken from a 1974 ABC special, Ridin’ The Rails: The Great American Train Story. Apparently, the entire special was Johnny Cash riding trains across America, while singing some of his favorite train-related songs.

I imagine that it was ultimately meant to be something of a commercial for Amtrak, which was only 3 years old when Ridin’ The Rails aired. Myself, I’ve always found trains to be very romantic and one of my most beloved memories of Italy is riding the train into and from Venice. I’ve never been on Amtrak, though. I guess that’s because I’m a Southern girl and, down here, we love our cars too much to ever ride a train.

(I do remember, a few years back, watching a bunch of people from up North having a televised conniption over how little we care about Amtrak in the South. It struck me as being kinda weird and petty but anyway…)

Ridin’ The Rails was directed by Nicholas Webster. If that name sounds familiar, that might be because Webster also directed my favorite Christmas movie, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians!

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Ex’s and Oh’s by Elle King (2015, dir by Michael Maxxis)

Posted on January 14, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Since I shared the first video for Elle King’s Ex’s and Oh’s yesterday, I figured that I should probably share the second version today.

This is the official version and, while it’s nice to see men getting objectified for once, I have to admit that I still prefer the first version. That version, after all, had zombies.

Still, enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Ex’s & Oh’s by Elle King (2014, dir by ????)

Posted on January 13, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

To a lot of people, this will always be known as the Lifetime song. That’s because Lifetime used to always play this song in their commercials and it always fit in perfectly with whatever melodramatic movie was being advertised. Like the best Lifetime films, Ex’s & Oh’s may sound dramatic but it’s actually very humorous and self-aware.

Just consider some of my favorite lyrics:

Well, I had me a boy, turned him into a man
I showed him all the things that he didn’t understand
Whoa, and then I let him go

Now, there’s one in California who’s been cursing my name
‘Cause I found me a better lover in the UK
Hey, hey, until I made my getaway

One, two, three, they gonna run back to me
‘Cause I’m the best baby that they never gotta keep
One, two, three, they gonna run back to me
They always wanna come, but they never wanna leave

Myself, I loved this song even before it became a Lifetime anthem. This is one of those songs that it’s fun to sing off-key to while you’re stuck on Central Expressway.

There’s actually two videos for this song. The video that I shared today is the first version and I like it the best because there’s zombie at the end!

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Wannabe by The Spice Girls (1996, dir by Jhoan Camitz)

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Since today is Mel C’s birthday, I decided to go with a Spice Girls video for the video of the day.

Wannabe was the Spice Girls’s first video and, when it was released, it took only two hours for it to become the number one selected video on The Box, a British cable network. It stayed at number one for 13 weeks and it only fell from that spot because the Spice Girls released another video.

This video was directed by commercial director Jhoan Camitz. According to Wikipedia, this was his first music video. According to the imvdb, it was his third. Reportedly, he originally wanted to film the video at a hotel in Barcelona but, when he was denied permission, he instead filmed at the Midland Grand Hotel in St. Pancras, London.

The video was banned in some parts of Asia, because it was considered to be too provocative.

I’ve taking turns trying to convince nearly everyone here at the Shattered Lens to, at some point in the future, review Spice World. So far, everyone’s refused so I may to do it someday myself.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Hey Heartbreaker by Dream Wife (2018, dir by Mason London)

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This trippy video came out five days ago and it’s already a favorite of mine. To be honest, I have a weakness for anything that involves a robot band breaking free and beating up a bunch of drunks.

Enjoy!

2017 In Review: Lisa Marie’s 14 Favorite Songs of 2017

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(Originally, I was going to list my picks for the best in SyFy today. However, I need one more day to work on that so look for that tomorrow! For now, here are my favorite songs of 2017!)

Every January, I list my favorite songs of the previous year and, every January, I include the same disclaimer. My favorite songs are not necessarily the favorite songs of any of the other writers here at the Shattered Lens. We are a large and diverse group of people and, as such, we all have our own individual tastes.

If you ever visited the TSL Bunker, you would be shocked by the different music coming out of each office. You would hear everything from opera to death metal to the best of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. And then, of course, you would reach my office and you would discover that my taste in music pretty much runs the gamut from EDM to More EDM.

Now, usually, I do try to listen to a variety of music. You can go to my Song of the Day site — Lisa Marie’s Song of the Day — and see that I do occasionally listen to other types of music. But, I have to be honest. 2017 was not a year that inspired me to really leave me comfort zone. If anything, music provided me with some much needed consistency in an otherwise chaotic year. 2017 was a year that made me want to dance until it was all over and, for the most part, my favorite songs of the year reflect that fact.

Before I list my songs, I should make something else very clear. These are my favorite songs of 2017. I’m not saying that they’re necessarily the best songs of 2017. I’ll leave that debate for others. Instead, there are the songs that I found myself listening to over and over again. These are the songs made me dance. These are the songs that made me sing. A few of these songs relaxed me when I needed to be relaxed. These are songs that I liked.

Music Video of the Day: Slowly by Son Lux (2018, dir by Alex Cook)

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s music video of the day is the video for Son Lux’s Slowly, which was released yesterday.

Your guess about what’s going on in this moody, black-and-white video is probably as good as mine. Myself, I like the atmosphere and the feeling of death creeping around every corner. At the very least, that’s what I see. Others will undoubtedly disagree.

This video was directed by Alex Cook, who also directed the video of Son Lux’s Dangerous.

Enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Endlessly by Mystery Skulls (2017, dir by Double Ninja)

Posted on January 9, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

A city in the desert is under attack! Can it be saved?

Watch the video to find out!

I like this video. It’s fun. I’m not going to overanalyze it because, quite frankly, sometimes simply being fun is underrated.

Here’s the full credits as listed on promonews. Double Ninja and Thomas Vernay are one in the same.

DIRECTOR: Double Ninja
PRODUCER: Thomas Vernay
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Agence Cumulus
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Thomas Vernay
COMMISSIONER: Devin Sarno
LABEL: Warner Bros. Records

ART DIRECTOR: Double Ninja
LAYOUT AND CHARACTER DESIGN: Mathias Lemaire Sgard, Raoul Mallat, Marie Houssin, Paul Raillard, Gabriel Murgue
HEAD OF ANIMATION: Nathan Otano
2D ANIMATION: Léonard Olivier, Loris Pernaut, Florent Ribeyron

Enjoy!