Movies!

Haven't posted in little while so gonna just show you some movies I'm looking foreward to in the way future.



Nightmare on Elm St. the remake looks sick! The trailer was just released a couple of days ago and it looks really cool. It doesn't seem like they're gonna venture off too much from the original. The remake is produced by Michael Bay (Transformers 1 & 2) and directed by Samuel Bayer (just a bunch of music DVDs). Check out the trailer in the link below



http://http//vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=63620829





Shutter Island staring Leonardo DiCaprio I've been looking foreward to for a long time. Because originally, It was supposed to come out on October 9 but now it's been pushed back to February 19, 2010! It's based on the novel by Dennis Lehane and is directed by Martin Scorsese (The Departed, Gangs of New York). Trailer below!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYVrHkYoY80



Although I am completely against the whole vampire fad thats going on right now I am so pumped for this movie, Daybreakers! (Just realized these are all horror movies!) It isn't like the Twilight, Vampire Diaries, teen crap its a REAL vampire movie and a really cool idea. Basically, almost everyone is a vampire and the remaining humans are used just for food. But the humans are dying off too quickly and the human-looking, civilized vampires will go crazy and turn into their bat-like form if they don't have enough human blood to drink. Meanwhile, a group of humans want to rebuild the human race in secret and keep their blood for themselves (selfish bastards). Directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig and is set to release January 8, 2010. Trailer:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b2bbX2kG_8



And of course there's Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, Avatar which releases this December, and Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones (which I'll post a link to cuz now one's heard of it and it looks great!) based on the novel by Alice Sebold.



The Lovely Bones trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikUWKi0W5_g



Theres so much more but I don't wanna make this one too long and I just know I'm forgetting some good ones but oh well! Haha alright bye.



-Josh CV

Three Days Grace: Life Starts Now REVIEW!

Background:

First before I get into this review let me give you some background really quick about me and Three Days Grace. I borrowed their first album from a friend of mine in 2003 and was quickly addicted (the only other band I liked at the time was Linkin Park). In early 2006, Three Days Grace's new single was released and their new album was announced and I was incredibly happy. In June when it was released I went straight to Tower Records with my friend who first let me borrow their debut CD and we both bought one. A few singles into the album, Three Days Grace reached mainstream success with "Never Too Late." A lot of people who have been with a band since their beginning don't like when this happens, me included, I must admit. But the difference here is there was definitely no "selling out." From their debut album to One-X the band only evolved enough as to not put out the same album twice. They stayed true to their music and themselves and made an album that, from beginning to end, is virtually flawless.



Review:

When I first heard "Break" I was brought back to when I first heard "Animal I Have Become." Not because the songs are similar but because both songs took what they had from the previous albums and improved upon them, making something new while still being identifiable as Three Days Grace.

The album starts off with "Bitter Taste," a hard hitting song that bashes on someone for their wrong doings. Nothing we haven't heard before lyrically, but musically this song is one of the band's strongest. Neil Sanderson's drums and Barry Stock's guitar are taken to a new level with this song and it sets a good tone for the rest of the album.

Three Days Grace albums have always been a little top-heavy and this album is no exception. With songs like "Break," "World So Cold," and "Lost In You" taking up the second through fourth tracks on the album, all three are potential singles. And that's not for no reason. "Lost In You" is something very different than anything we've seen from the band before. A softer, more poppy side of the band. I would not be surprised if this song is released as a single. "The Good Life" is very "Riot"-Esq as far as sound. It's a fun song that definitely pumps you up about just wanting to have fun and live "the good life," very care-free. Definitely one of the best off the album.

At the start of the second half of the album is "Last To Know." This song has the first 3/4 of the song as just piano and Adam Gontier singing. This is a huge step forward for the band (not that I want them to only make piano ballads) because it's definitely something new and shows maturity as a band. After the second chorus, the guitar comes in and leads into the rest of the band. At this point in the mostly sad song, the hopeful part comes in. The beginning chorus' being about being left along by someone and the ending chorus being about realizing it was for the better. A definite high point on the album. "Bully" is a song about feeling tormented to the breaking point. "Goin' Down" has an eerie feel kind of like being in a haunted mansion. The album finishes with its title track, "Life Starts Now." The song is about someone who feels alone and thinks everything would just be better if they just weren't there anymore and trying to make them see that everything can be better and life is worth living. Like the title track from One-X it is another high point on the album, which shows that Three Days Grace really knows how to end an album. To me, I feel that "Life Starts Now" is a great ender because it's like, "Ok the albums over, you're ready to go live your life."

Overall, Three Days Grace has proved that they are able to improve with each album, no matter how seemingly flawless an album might be and I have no doubt they will continue to make great music in the future and I'll be listening to this album for a long time.

-Josh CV

Quick Post: Poll

Hey, I have a new poll up!

Next month I'll be turning 17 so I'll be able to see rated R movies! (Exciting I know)
But, I'm torn between two: Zombieland and Law Abiding Citizen. So everyone check out the poll to the right and just click whichever one you think I should see on my birthday next month!
Poll ends at midnight the day of my birthday, October 16. Whichever one wins, I'll be seeing along with Where The Wild Things Are, which I'm really excited for!

Also my review of Three Days Grace's new album, Life Starts Now will be this Tuesday!

-Josh CV

October!

October's gonna be a BIG month! I'm probably gonna be posting a lot next month heres a list of things to come. (Rest of September included)

September

• Three Days Grace- Life Starts Now
• Paramore- Brand New Eyes

October

• Paramore Concert!
• Zombieland Review
• Where The Wild Things Are Review
• Saw VI Review
• I possibly will be going to Hollywood and meetin Eric Striffler but I don't have all the details for that yet, I'll keep you posted!

Meeting Eric would just make my whole year. I'm so very excited for the rest of this month and next month!

-Josh CV

VMAs... Kinda

Right now I'm gonna talk about juuust the beginning of the VMAs. You all know why. Kanye West's tasteless and just incredibly rude interruption of Taylor Swift's time after she won Best Female Video. You all know what happened and this is yesterdays news I was just able to get to a computer to talk about it right now so I won't say what happened I just want to say that what he did was absolutely horrible. He ruined Taylor's moment when she was clearly extremely excited (See: her face when her name was called).
Beyonce of course was the big hero of the night when she said that her first VMA was such a great moment for her and then let Taylor Swift come back up to finish her thank yous.

Tonight on Jay Leno, Leno asked Kanye what his mother would think of what he did last night. Kanye was left completely speechless. Some people are saying that it was WRONG of Leno to ask that and I completely disagree. I think it was great that he asked him that. I think it definately put him in his place. Kanye clearly had no regard for anyones feelings so why should anyone have any regard for his?

About Barack Obama's alleged calling Kanye a jackass, I definately don't mind at all that he said that but some people aregoing to use that against him as usual. If people can find a way to put telling kids to stay in school against him then they'll find some way to use this.

So overall, congrats to Taylor Swift for her VMA I think she definately deserves it (I am a fan d:), 3OH!3 were my pick for best new artist (love them!) but Lady Gaga did put on a good performance so I have kind of a respect for her but still don't like her music. And Green Day winning best rock video over Paramore and Kings of Leon is the biggest rip off of all time. Not because I like Paramore or Kings of Leon because I'm actually not a fan of Kings of Leon but they are just 100% more talented than Green Day.

-Josh CV

9 Review!

Yesterday after school, me, my brother and Blayke saw 9! It was based on the short film by Shane Acker which is also pretty sick. You can tell by watching the short film that Acker had the idea for the full length movie the whole time and I can see why Tim Burton was so interested in it because the short film is very well done.
9 is about nine ragdoll type things in post-apocalyptic times who go on search for their friend, 2 who was taken away by a creature. Throughout the story we learn more about why they ragdolls are there and why the machines are there and all of the deeper meanings along with it.
I really loved this movie. I thought the story and plot were great. The visuals were great, the cast was great I just thought overall that this movie was amazing. The beginning started a little slow but I supposed it was necessary to set the scene but as it goes along and the action starts and the plot unfolds, it gets really good.
About the PG-13 rating, some people were saying that it should have been PG but I think it deserved the PG-13 rating. There are a lot of disturbing scenes and scarry images. A lot of death and a lot of monster things, just no blood.
So overall, great movie. Definately recommend and if you wanna watch the original short film you can watch it in the link below but I would recommend watching it AFTER you watch the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IQcMeNh7Hc

-Josh CV

Quick Post: Paramore Concert

Today I bought my tickets for a Paramore concert on October 2 in San Francisco! I'll be going with my good bud, Blayke, also bassist in my band.
We got the tickets when they were sold out too but we had to pay like 40 bucks extra! But it's gonna be totally worth it, Paramore is an amazing live band.
Their new album, Brand New Eyes, comes out on September 29th and it promises to be their best yet. Check out the October issue of AP Magazine, theyre in the cover story (and a full page Eric Striffle ad on page 57)

Seein 9 tomorrow, I'm sooooo excited! I'll review it.

-Josh CV

The New Band Name

After months of arguing and disagreeing with the bandmates about what our band name should be, we have finally come up with a conclusion. About 1-2 months ago we decided we would come up with as many names as possible before today and make a list of every one (good or bad) and all rate each one from 1-5. With 3 of us that would make the highest possible score 15. We took the top 5 from that list and rated those ones from 1-10, 30 being the highest possible score. The top 5 were:

1. AMF (more like WTF if you ask me but oh well doesn't matter anymore [sorry Blayke])
2. Down To Ashes
3. Through The Eyes
4. Ashes To Snow
5. Ashes Like Snow

After going through every single name and narrowing it down to five and then going through those 5, our official band name is now

ASHES TO SNOW

We are all very happy with it and have already gotten some great feedback! Tell us what you think!

-Josh CV

SmallFartrr!

Hey everyone! Some of you may remember the video me, my best friend Tyler and my brother made about a year ago called The Homeless Hobo. You can watch it at the end of this post.
Well we decided maybe its time to make a second one?! Yeah we definately are. We'll start recording this weekend, I can say that but I'm not sure when it will actually be up but I'm soooo excited.
We're just about at 1000 views on the first one and thats what inspired us to continue making them because we weren't going to before.

youtube.com/smallfartrr

Please go there and subscribe, Thanks!

-Josh CV