Naughty Idol Series: Michael Jackson

Here is the second in my series of idols of this decade.

Although technically not really an idol of the naughties (because nearly all his great work happened before now) I think that his untimely death warrants Michael Jackon a place in this blog-post series. His life deserves to be truly celebrated.

Essentially Michael Jackson was the reason why I ever began to love music, and no other artist has had a bigger influence on the types of music and artists I listen too. Jackson was my original idol, he was my generation’s superstar and he will be sorely missed, no doubt about that.

I was fascinated to receive messages from friends and family to see if I was okay about his demise, which reminded me once again on the lasting impact he has made on me. I will forever remember the day he died but his music will forever live on like those legends that have left us before him.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson, after so much misunderstanding about your genius you do deserve to. You were one of our greats.

My favourite MJ tracks:
Man in the Mirror
Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
Thriller
Billy Jean
You Rock My World

Band of Brothers – Part 2

Band of Brothers, the production from Steven Spielberg and others, was perhaps one of the finest pieces of television since the turn of the century and there is not much doubting there. It is a must for any DVD collection.

I’m therefore pretty darn happy that the team has decided to follow up its success with The Pacific, a new HBO mini series that looks at America’s battle with the Japanese in the same war. Like the original series it will no doubt rock. Here is the trailer for our viewing pleasure…

Cool Sesame Street rendition

Courtesy of Innocent Drinks’ email newsletter I came across this wacky video. Me love it.

London transport’s finest

Those of you that don’t live or work in London might not realise we are undergoing a 48-hour tube strike right now. Frustrated yesterday one of my friends decided to opt for transport by boat to get home after work. No joke this turned up…

Film Review: Terminator Salvation

My first trip to the cinema for a while was last night and I went to see the film that perhaps I’ve been most looking forward to all year, Terminator Salvation.

Whilst the reviews for this movie have been mixed I very much wanted to make my own decision as to whether or not the film was on a par with the first two of the series or whether it was a disappointment like the third. In reality, though, it was between the two. I guess I couldn’t have expected more from a director whose previous efforts include the poor Charlie’s Angels movies and whom calls himself McG.

Everything was in place here for Terminator Salvation to be a classic. The casting was spot on (Christian Bale and Sam Worthington especially), the continuation of the storyline works and the realisation of the world after Judgement Day is a visual treat that keeps true to the original films. Great to hear that theme tune again too, what a classic.

I’m very much of the opinion that there is enough here to warrant a sequel (or two) but I did come away from the film thinking there was something missing. At times the film was definitely leaning towards the fromage side and you never ever got this from the Terminator classics. Also and in typical Hollywood fashion the CGI is somewhat over the top, which again you didn’t get in the originals.

I felt that the film was catering too much to the new cinema audience that seem to be happy with such a format, but by doing this you will always upset those that fell in love with the story and its characters in the first place. Today’s filmmakers should realise that by toning down the big explosions and special effects you often get bigger suspense and impact, which the first two films had bucket loads of. The recent Batman films have shown this, so perhaps Bale can bring some of this experience to the next films if they ever get made, which I hope of course they do.