Now Playing... Gin Wigmore

Let me start off by saying that I have a thing for these soulful, sultry, raspy, whiskey and cigarettes voices. I appreciate a beautiful girl with a beautiful mind and voice to match. Gin Wigmore is one of these underrated artists. Granted, she's a star in her native New Zealand, but America has yet to discover her brilliance. But they probably wouldn't care anyway. America likes what it likes and there's a certain formula here that makes you a star. Hopefully, we can stop obsessing over the predictable and give stars like Gin Wigmore a chance to shine.

"Too Late for Lovers" is a single off her orgasm of a debut album, Holy Smoke. The CD went quadruple platinum in NZ (note: platinum in ZK is selling 15,000 copies). A little bit of background: Wigmore won the US International Songwriting Competition in 2004 for her song "Hallelujah," which she wrote in memory of her father. She was the youngest and only unsigned writer in the history of the competition. Holy smoke.




"All I see are angels. I am no angel."

"127 Hours" Movie Review

I apologize for the lateness of this. I saw this film and wrote this review well over a month ago and just realized I had never published it. But just to keep some content flowing, and to help out those who are in need of a good film to watch, and to celebrate the Golden Globe nods (and snubs) for this film.

127 Hours: A-

Danny Boyle is something of a genius. The Slumdog Millionaire director managed to make a full-length film out of one man being pinned to a wall for five days. The film 127 Hours is based on the true story of hiker Aron Ralston, whose arm gets pinned in between a boulder and the wall of a cliff, rendering him trapped for five days with a very limited supply of food and water. The film shows off Boyle’s intricate signature of bright colors, varying angles, stunning racing visuals, and his love for AR Rahman.

In the picture, based on Ralston’s book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Ralston (portrayed by the intense, unavoidably lovable James Franco) takes a journey through Blue John Canyon near Moab, Utah in April 2003. With a ballsy spirit, he decides to tell absolutely no one where he is going. In a heart-stopping moment, Ralston comes across a loose part of the cliff, which sends him barreling down the cave…and the rock right on top of him. We watch Ralston keep himself surprisingly calm as he tries several ways to free his crushed arm, including chipping away at it with a dull knife to no avail.

Boyle creates a fabulous sense of being there as we observe a man breaking down before our eyes, forced to drink his own urine, record a visual obituary and, eventually, cut off his own arm to free himself. The gut-wrenching moments when Ralston’s water spills, when he’s forced to break his own bones and pop his veins, and the subtle sigh of relief when he is finally free ,will surely stay with you for a long time. The film will leave you appreciating little things you take for granted such as water, food, sunlight, even the ability to masturbate. It opens for wide release on November 19, 2010. Warning: this movie is NOT for the squeamish.

"Black Swan" Review

Black Swan: A

After countless views of the trailer for Darren Aronofsky's psychological doppelganger thriller "Black Swan," it's easy to think of this movie as a lustful thriller accompanied by a beautiful performance by the Natalie Portman (which, by the way, she trained and worked her ass off for to look like a real ballerina). All this is completely true, but all must be warned that it actually gets kind of gory. Had I watched this movie alone I probably wouldn't have noticed, but with a theater full of gasping, moaning and overall freaking out people, I can conclude that it might gross you out at times.

But isn't Darren Aronofsky great at that? He made a masterpiece out of "The Wrestler" using the same first-person pain-inducing techniques. With his handheld camera, ascending orchestra, brutal close-ups and swift motions, Aronofsky catapults you into the unraveling mind of Nina Sayers (Portman), a dedicated, shy, twentysomething ballet dancer who still lives with her mother, sleeps with dozens of stuffed animals and falls asleep to the sounds of a music box. You feel it every time she tears a piece of skin, suffers a hangnail, and endures whatever other bloody laceration or frightening encounter that may or may not have actually happened.

Nina starts out normal enough, but once she's made prima ballerina of "Swan Lake," she becomes obsessed with perfection, as she must be able to play both the white swan and the seductive black swan. She perfectly encapsulates the demurity of the white swan, but she cannot relinquish control enough to convincingly play the black swan. Newcomer Lily (Mila Kunis, with whom I now desire to enter into a relationship) is the epitome of the bewitching black swan, and is made her alternate by artistic director of the Ballet Company, Thomas (seductively played by the dashing, delicious Vincent Cassel that France has the pleasure of seeing as a leading man rather than the constant villain that America is exposed to).

Nina's intimidation of Lily and fear of being cast aside as former Swan Queen Beth (Winona Ryder) was drives her insane as she slowly sheds her innocent image and unleashes a darker side that sees her fighting her rival, her mother (Barbara Hershey channeling Piper Laurie in "Carrie") and herself.

The movie can be interpreted as not only the struggle for greatness in one's art, but also a narrative on the brutal nature with which Hollywood starlets are easily replaced with the next best thing and cast aside. Possibly one of the most carefully casted movies, it seems these roles were written for Portman and Ryder, the hard-working good-girl and the aging superstar who has had her time, respectively.

"Swan" may leave some wanting more, but the beauty of creating a masterpiece that speaks for itself is never having to explain anything. There are hints to Nina's self-destructive past and the ending will absolutely leave you wondering, but there couldn't have been a better way to end such a movie. Yes, it's a bit ridiculous at times, but approached from an artistic standpoint, it's a delightful, if not tragic, production and a sure Oscar contender.

(By the way, I'm not a professional critic by any means.)

Feeling Good

        It's so ironic that this song is what I'm posting for the first time in almost a month considering this is the worst day I've had in a very long time. BUT when my days are bad, my dark side rages and it's manifested in art like this. This is not the video I wanted to post. The actual video to this song is SICK and twisted and so I love it, and I encourage you to watch it on YouTube, but the song is really good too. This song is known for being difficult to cover. Many have tried, many have failed, Michael Buble did wonderful and, of course, Ms. Nina Simone was the ultimate. But this cover is different. I've been sleeping on Muse for a long time but I may actually pay closer attention to them now. It only take something like this to get my attention. This is probably the most original cover I've ever heard of this song, and it's incredibly sexy. Enough blabber. Sit in your dark room, close your eyes, turn this up, and listen. Repeat if necessary.