Scarlett Belle - Closure

~Pop Song of the Day #53~

Meet Scarlett Belle, an up-and-coming Australian pop duo currently consisting of Tamara Jaber and Reigan Derry. The duo are currently based in Sydney and Los Angeles. On 10 May 2010, the duo made their music debut with the song, "Closure" (which has reached #11 on the Australian charts) and will be releasing their debut album in August 2010. It's a nice song, and it's really catchy. The video clip could be better though- if it had an actual story to it relating to the song.

Why I Love #8: Alice in Wonderland

So I recently saw the new Alice in Wonderland by Disney that was directed by Tim Burton. I'm not really a Tim Burton fan.. I think I've only seen "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "9" before this. No, I have not seen The Nightmare Before Christmas, but based on the hype, I was expecting something more out of Alice in Wonderland. I mean, even though I haven't seen Nightmare, I've seen all sorts of merchandise and heard good reviews of his films.

Before I write about the film, I just want to say that I am huge fan of books like Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz (especially this), the Chronicles of Narnia, and others. I like the idea of children journeying into magical fairylands and the power of imagination. I read a lot of these before I entered high school, and the land of Oz was definitely my favorite. I had read Alice in Wonderland before, but I never really liked it. I think that the various adaptations in comic books, other movies, and various merchandise are much better than the original book. Of course, without the original novel by Lewis Carroll, none of the current adaptators would have been able to "put a spin" on it.

(Spoilers after.) So the new movie was disappointing. With the grown-up Alice twist and the star cast (including Anne Hathaway), I expected more of a spin on the original tale. I'm not sure, but I think this was supposed to be a remake instead of a sequel. (Or vice versa?) But the entire film was just like the Disney cartoon one EXCEPT for the fight scene at the end between Alice and Jabberwocky. Everything else had already been done before in the cartoon or was completely uninteresting. And the revelation at the end where Alice goes "Oh! Those weren't dreams (where I was in Wonderland before)... those were actual memories!" was so completely obvious that I wanted to say "No duh!" I mean, even a child could have understood that from just watching the movie without her saying it. Seriously, they just copied everything from the cartoon and then added a mediocre fight scene.

Thus, I was really disappointed by this movie. I did not like it at all, and I think the Alice mini-series on Syfy was much better. In fact that cannot even be compared to this remake. So don't watch this movie. Not recommended. 3 out of 5 stars. Just because it had nice special effects and for the awesome new Alice merchandise. Watch the Alice mini-series on Syfy instead. Seriously =D

Photo credit: Disney's Alice in Wonderland poster (2010)
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Selena Gomez - Round and Round

~Pop Song of the Day #52~

So you might be thinking "Sure, post the song that everyone's heard already, since it's totally new blah blah blah". Well, it's true that it IS new and has received a lot of hits on Youtube already, but Selena Gomez is not your typical Disney pop princess. When I saw her on Wizards of Waverly Place, I thought, "Ok, her album will be another manufactured pop CD". But I was completely wrong & blown away when I heard her album full of dance-y songs. Some may call the songs pop-rock, but the beats were all pure dance. They were completely not what I was expecting & I <3'd it. Round and Round is Selena Gomez and the Scene's 1st single from their 2nd album. Listen to it 2x and it'll get stuck in your head =D I didn't like it at first, but then it got stuck in my head lol. Note: I would have rather they released some of the other songs from the 1st album as singles (like my fave I Don't Miss You At All, or maybe I Got U, or As A Blonde); but I guess getting new songs is better.

Kimberly Cole - Smack You

~Pop Song of the Day #51~

Meet Kimberly Cole, pretty much a new-comer in the music industry. Although she doesn't have a Wikipedia page (and I'm too lazy to look at her bio on her Myspace Music page), I'll just write what I know about her off the top of my head. First off, the first time I heard this song, I stopped it after the intro. If you're a Ke$ha fan, then you'll recognize the similarity of the intro, but the song is completely different and awesome. It's been playing non-stop on my computer for a few days now. Although the subject matter can seem a bit violent and vulgar, the song itself is catchy and dance-y. Kimberly doesn't have an album out yet, but one of her songs "Superstar (Smash It)" was featured on the TV series Dollhouse (which happens to be one of my fave TV shows).

Sorry for not posting!

Hey guys, sorry for not posting for 2 - 3 months >.< I'm going to blame it on studying for AP exams, finals, etc. It's been a busy couple of months, but now that it's SUMMER ~ ! I will have much more time to post and update this blog. I have SO much new music to show you & I still start reviewing books more. I can't believe I got 300+ views even though I haven't been updating. Sorry again, and I will definitely keep posting over the summer. Thank you readers! =]

Picture credit: Me! I actually painted the picture in art class this yr, and just had time this month to save it onto my computer.
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