Seriously, though, we all know what Marilyn Manson is about and what you’re going to get when you watch one of his videos and he’s been around for so long that it’s kind of hard to get shocked by him. I mean, he’s been imitated by so many other artists that he now almost seems kind of quaint.
But that said, this video is still seriously freaky.
And, of course, this song shows what Marilyn Manson does so well, taking a song that was formerly not scary at all and then making it his own. I mean, seriously….
The latest AMV of the Day comes courtesy of AMV creator “Chiikaboom” whose works I’ve chosen many times for this feature. This one was just completed and released by Chiikaboom less than a month ago and, like her other AMV’s, this one truly impresses.
This latest AMV from Chiikaboom is simply called “Imagica”. She’s taken on the theme of the mahou shoujo (magical girl) genre which continues to be one of the more popular ones in anime and manga both in Japan and overseas. Casual viewers and readers of the “magical girl” genre tend to view them as just cute and peppy, but for those who have actually watched these series from start to finish know that they’re more than colorful, happy characters.
Chiikaboom latches onto the darker aspects of the mahou shoujo genre and runs with it headlong towards one of the songs which made the Sucker Punch soundtrack one of the best of 2011. The song she picks to shine a light on the darker side of the magical girls is the Emily Browning cover of the Eurythmics classic song, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”. The haunting rendition of this song by Emily Browning matches up well with the darker scenes of these magical girls. Scenes which goes beyond young girls and teens with powers, but how such powers weigh heavily on them.
“Imagica” is one of the better AMV’s to arrive on the scene in the last couple months. Once again it’s the one person who seems to have the flair for the dramatic and just the right touches which makes these AMV from Chiikaboom the best.
After having just seen Zack Snyder’s latest visual extravaganza with Sucker Punch my next pick for “song of the day” comes courtesy of that film’s eclectic soundtrack. The one song which stood out the most and set the tone of the film for me has to be the one which starts the film: “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)” covered by the film’s lead, Emily Browning.
“Sweet Dreams” was an instant classic when Eurthymics first unleashed it upon the music world and it continues to do so even after countless bands and artists covering the song. One cover which seems to get the most press has been Marilyn Manson’s version which helped propel the shock rocker into prominence (and helped launch an uncounted number of “goths” to the world). In Sucker Punch the song once again gets covered but this time by Emily Browning. This English actress’ haunting and ethereal rendition of the song with a symphonic rock tempo and melody to match her voice has made this cover of the song my favorite.
This cover opens up the film and almost gives the opening scene a silent film quality as the song plays over a dialogue-free sequence. It also gives the whole proceeding a dream-like quality that helped set the tone of the film. The song pretty much said that what one was about to see may or may not be real. The rest of the film’s soundtrack just got better as the film went forward, but it was the strong beginning with this song that turned a very good soundtrack into a great one.
Through the Shattered Lens 