I don’t know about you but I’m still pretty angry about what happened yesterday when the Oscar nominations were announced. Seriously, how could The LEGO Movie not be nominated for best animated film? It’s almost as if the Academy is prejudiced against plastic toys.
*Le sigh*
So, normally, when I talk about The LEGO Movie, I find an excuse to include the video for Everything is Awesome.
But you know what?
EVERYTHING IS NOT AWESOME!
And today’s song of the day — which is also taken from The LEGO Movie — reflects that point. As performed by Will Arnett, here’s Batman’s Song (a.k.a. Untitled Self-Portrait.)
I’m a bit biased in that I do believe that at this very moment whatever film Marvel Studios releases I will probably like it. I’m very close to having drunk the MCU Kool-Aid. Which is a good thing that trashfilguru is here to keep me from drinking that delicious, overly sweetened drink by the liters.
I know that the MCU is not what one would call high-brow art, but I will admit that it’s a very entertaining piece of world-building that we really haven’t seen done in film history. Well, at least not in the scale that Kevin Feige and the creative minds over at Marvel Studios have been attempting (and succeeding) these past 7-8 years.
One film that I highly enjoyed and consider one of my favorites of 2014 (if not one of the best) was the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger. This sequel was a game-changer in regards to the very cinematic universe that Marvel had been building since the first Iron Man. Captain America: The Winter Soldier looked to up-end the very foundation of this universe by making one of it’s bricks become something to not be trusted.
Lisa Marie did a great job in conveying my thoughts about what made Captain America: The Winter Soldier such a good film (I would say great, but again I have that glass of Kool-Aid). One aspect of the film that has been given little to know attention to has been Henry Jackman’s work as film composer for the sequel. In fact, the film’s score has been much-maligned just because the filmmakers made the decision to veer away from the Alan Silvestri musical cues and motifs that had become recognizable as Captain America.
Alan Silvestri did the film score for the first film, but Jackman was tasked with recoding the very musical DNA for the sequel. What we get is a film score that’s very minimalist and supplements well the very paranoia and conspiracy tone the film’s narrative took. This was quite the opposite of Silvestri’s score for the first film mirrored that film’s nostalgic and heroic themes.
The track “Taking A Stand” which scores the David Mack illustrated and Jim Steranko-influenced end credits sequence is a perfect example of why Jackman’s score for Captain America: The Winter Soldier should be put on more “best of 2014” lists.
We’re closing out another year and it’s always time to reflect back on the events the we all experienced.
Here in Through the Shattered Lens we saw a new writer join the ranks with the arrival and addition of Alexandre Rothier. We also saw more and more of our writers grow in confidence with their writing. This didn’t just translate into more writing from them, but better as well. There’s Dazzling Erin with her constant surprise of finding new artists to share. Then leonth3duke who finally made the jump to truly appreciating horror. Leonard Wilson continued to find his voice with each new review he wrote.
I can’t forget necromoonyeti who continues to be my source of all things music and with each new band written I pick up something new to experience. Semtex Skittle showed the world his appreciation not just for the franchise of Final Fantasy but Sailor Moon as well and to that otaku are grateful. Speaking of otaku there’s the site’s own big bear of one with pantsukudasai56 who always brings in his choice recommendations in anime.
Then there’s Dork Geekus giving us his thoughts on things comic book. We also have trashfilmguru gracious enough to take time to share his unique take on horror, comic books both high and low-brow who also keeps the rest of us from drinking the Marvel Kool-Aid wholesale which makes for a better site.
Finally there’s my co-founder and partner-in-crime Lisa Marie Bowman who upped her game as she literally propped up the site at times with her voluminous, insightful and unique brand of writing. I will be forever grateful for her continued support and for becoming one of my closest friends.
I’ve chosen the latest “Song of the Day” as an analogue for what I witnessed — both personally and within this site — throughout the year 2014. I had just lost my father at the tail end of 2013 (a loss still felt even today) and then fell deathly ill around the holidays. Through it all, I remained thankful and proud of the work my fellow writers produced in my absence, despite my grief and illness.
Basil Poledouris has been an artist I’ve admired ever since I first heard how his music transformed John Milius’ screen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s Cimmerian barbarian from a mere violent sword-and-sorcery matinee into something approaching a perfect blend of epic fantasy and primal storytelling. Poledouris went on to compose many other memorable film scores, but his work in Conan the Barbarian remains his most iconic.
In the film’s closing sequence following its climax, we hear the somber piece “Orphans of Doom/The Awakening,” which brings the story to a haunting yet uplifting conclusion. I chose this track to symbolize the year Through the Shattered Lens endured. It opens with an elegiac tone, underscored by a choir that imbues the music with an ethereal quality; yet as the piece unfolds, it gradually swells into something triumphant — a sound that carries hope for the future.
This composition perfectly encapsulates Through the Shattered Lens circa 2014, and it’s my hope that a brighter future awaits me and all who walk beside me as the new year dawns.
A rock legend passed away today. Joe Cocker had one of those very unique voices which most everyone recognized. A blues and soul rock singer who performed with some of the rock legends of the 60’s and 70’s, he would become a mainstream hit with songs such as “Up Where We Belong” and his covers of Beatles songs.
It was in 1975, covering a ballad written and composed by Billy Preston, Bruce Fisher and Dennis Wilson that he truly burst into the mainstream scene. The song was “You Are So Beautiful” and while the album it was a part of never truly took off the single itself reached No. 5 on the Billboards chart of that year.
Cocker’s version was much slower in tempo than the original song and this worked well in concert with his gritty, bluesy voice where each word and lyric felt full of emotion that blues and soul singers have become well-known for.
Joe Cocker might have faded away from the mainstream consciousness after the 80’s but rock and blues aficionados always remembered and admired him right down to his last days.
Time for the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame to heed the words of Billy Joel and induct the man in it’s hallowed halls. He’s more than earned it.
You Are So Beautiful
You are so beautiful to me You are so beautiful to me Can’t you see Your everything I hoped for Your everything I need You are so beautiful to me
Such joy and happiness you bring Such joy and happiness you bring Like a dream A guiding light that shines in the night Heavens gift to me You are so beautiful to me
Tonight was the penultimate episode of Kurt Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy on FX. It was an episode that truly earned it’s label of being a modern Shakespearean tragedy (a label many shows have been given but rarely live up to). It also unfolded like some of the best Coppola and Scorsese gangland epics with accounts being settled in disturbing, bloody fashion.
SAMCRO was a group that for some reason legion of fans have taken a ride with and despite the man downs the show took with it’s many highs people didn’t get off the ride (or couldn’t). They wanted to see how this outlaw band of brothers and their loved ones will survive (or who will survive) to the end.
We now know that three more names have been struck off the show’s ledger. With one more episode left in the series it’s either going to go out in a blaze of glory or end in a whimper.
To make tonight’s episode even more memorable we got to listen to Ed Sheeran drop his latest song that perfectly encapsulates the events of Sons of Anarchy tonight and all the way back to the beginning.
Make It Rain
When the sins of my father Weigh down in my soul And the pain of my mother Will not let me go
Well I know there can come fire from the sky To purify pure as the canes Even though I know this fire brings me pain Even so And just the same
Make it rain Make it rain down low Just make it rain Make it rain
Make it rain Make it rain down low Just make it rain Make it rain
And the seed needs the water Before it grows out of the ground But it just keeps on getting hotter And the hunger more profound
Well I know there can come tears from their eyes But they may as well be in vain Even though I know these tears bring me pain Even so And just the same
Make it rain Make it rain down low Just make it rain Make it rain
Make it rain Make it rain down low Just make it rain Make it rain
Make it rain x8
And the seas are full of water That stop by the shore Just like the riches of grandeur That never reach the port
So let the claps fill with thunderous applause And let thy death be the veins And fill the sky With all that they can drop When it’s time To make a change
Make it rain Make it rain down low Just make it rain Make it rain
Make it rain Make it rain down low Just make it rain Make it rain
Make it rain x4
Make it rain Make it rain down low Just make it rain Make it rain
It’s been 13 years since the first film in what will ultimately become Peter Jackson’s Middle-Earth Saga and now we’re in the stretch run. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is set to arrive in North America this December 17. The film premiered in London on December 1, 2014.
Kids who first saw The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001 are now young adults. For adults who have returned time and time again to the world Peter Jackson built for over a decade of limitless imagination and hard work of thousands this final film will be the culmination of watching what many in years past have called unfilmable.
So, it’s with both joy and sadness that the book finally closes on Peter Jackson’s Middle-Earth journey and what better way than the final end credits song “The Last Goodbye” written and recorded by Peregrin Took himself, Billy Boyd.
The video itself mixes in scenes from both The Battle of the Five Armies and the previous five films. We also get some behind-the-scenes footage of the cast making their final farewells as filming closes to an end.
Damn people cutting onions.
The Last Goodbye
I saw the light fade from the sky On the wind I heard a sigh As the snowflakes cover my fallen brothers I will say this last goodbye
Night is now falling So ends this day The road is now calling And I must away Over hill and under tree Through lands where never light has shone By silver streams that run down to the sea
Under cloud, beneath the stars Over snow one winter’s morn I turn at last to paths that lead home And though where the road then takes me I cannot tell We came all this way But now comes the day To bid you farewell Many places I have been Many sorrows I have seen But I don’t regret Nor will I forget All who took the road with me
Night is now falling So ends this day The road is now calling And I must away Over hill and under tree Through lands where never light has shone By silver streams that run down to the sea
To these memories I will hold With your blessing I will go To turn at last to paths that lead home And though where the road then takes me I cannot tell We came all this way But now comes the day To bid you farewell
“So we whisper a dream here in the darkness Watching the stars til they’re gone And when even the memories have all faded away These days go on and on”
We’ve finally reached the end of 27 Days of Old School and I think it appropriate that I choose a heartwarming and life-affirming song from 1994 by the incomparable Vanessa Williams.
While Madonna courted controversy on the other side of the ledger was the classic beauty and soulful talent that was Vanessa Williams. She may not have had the mega-success that Madonna had in the music business, but she still left quite a mark on her own terms.
She’s been on top of the charts as an R&B and pop singer. She really hit her stride with her second full-length album which includes the memorable ballad “Save The Best For Last”. She would follow this ballad with “The Sweetest Days” which is also the name of her third album.
While she hasn’t been making music these past years she has branched out into becoming a successful actress both on the big and small screen and even doing some time on Broadway.
So, for those who feel down and out and who think the world is crashing down around and on them I recommend they sit down, relax and listen to this song. It might just help lift things up even if just a bit.
“‘Cause I know in my heart That my life ends and starts with you”
It took almost til the end but we finally get some New Edition in here.
Yes, it’s hard to talk about old school music without mentioning the premiere boy band (though pretty much grown ass men by the time of this song) of the 1980’s right up to the start of the 90’s.
Whether it was their first album when they were actually teens to their follow-up when they replaced Bobby Brown with Johnny Gill right up to the time of this song when the band brought Bobby Brown back to make it a six-man group, the group has always been the go-to R&B group. For those younger generation who grew up on One Direction and earlier than that with Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync, this group was our version of that and they were real and spectacular.
“I’m Still In Love With You” was sort of their last major hit which came out in 1995. A year that I’ve arbitrarily picked as the end of the Golden Age of Old School music (hey, it’s my list so there). It’s an R&B pop ballad that’s classic New Edition.
“Well, I’m standing next to a mountain, chop it down with the edge of my hand”
To close out the night we have Stevie Ray Vaughan at #25 with his excellent cover of the classic Hendrix track, “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)”.
The blues wasn’t a genre of music that I had much experience growing up during the 80’s. It was during a senior retreat that I was introduced to one of the blues rising stars during that era of my life. He was Stevie Ray Vaughan and I only got to know him after he had already passed into legend after he died in a helicopter crash.
Since then I’ve become not just a major listener of blues and blues rock music, but I would say I’ve become a connoisseur.
While I’ve since listened to Jimi Hendrix’s original of the song and consider it the best version, I will always have a special place in my musical library for the one and only SRV.
“One look in your eyes and there I see Just what you mean to me”
Those opening lyrics are instantly recognizable to anyone who grew up during the late 80’s. Whether one was in junior high, high school, college or already settled down. It’s a song with not a single cynical bone in its making.
“Here and Now” was the song that introduced the velvet-voiced crooner Luther Vandross to the general public. He was already a favorite singer for those who followed the R&B and soul music scene, but for the rest of the world he was an unknown. After the release of “Here and Now” in 1989 he was not an unknown to the rest of the world.
It’s a song that’s become a staple at proms and formal dances. The song soon became at weddings and continues to this day.
