Album in Depth: Seeking Major Tom by William Shatner Part 2

Moving on. So far, we had 10 songs. The score is 7 to the originals, 3 to Shatner. Weird, I know. We had campiness all around, we had from Bowie to Schilling, Queen to Deep Purple. In all honesty, he’s only got three points so far because of the goofyballness of his delivery in songs that I didn’t care to begin with. Let’s dive into the second half of this thing.

Album in Depth: Seeking Major Tom by William Shatner Part 1

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Sorry…

Album in Depth: Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? by Harvey Danger

I remember when Harvey Danger was a godlike band. Weird, isn’t it? Such a low expression band being considered the most important band of the nineties, with bands like Green Day and Nirvana already existing being so much more symbolic to the nineties than any nerd with a hobby band could ever accomplish to be. I remember Sean Nelson being considered the poet of his generation.

Album in Depth: Spice by Spice Girls

So… Hi everyone again. And after the most stressful 5 months of my life, time comes around again and it’s CLASS BREAK!… for about 3 weeks. Damn, I was hoping to, you know, rest a little longer. I can’t stand classes anymore…

Top 10 Favorite Albums

This is my top 10 favorite albums. It’s a rather basic list, decided purely on my own opinion, with one rule.

Rule no. 1: One album per band. I was doing the first draft of the list, and I think 6 albums were from the same band. Not doing that again.

So, let’s dive right in.

#10 – Electric Light Orchestra’s Out of the Blue

Talk about an album that grew on me. ELO is a band that I know for a short period of time now. Okay, I always knew of it, but never went after them. This album is awesome. It has 17 songs, varying greatly in style, with something for everyone. It’s their magnum opus and it really shows. And it’s not their only masterpiece: after their second album, everything is just great, and it really deserves to be listened. Props go to Turn to Stone and Sweet Talkin’ Woman.

#9 – The Beatles’ Abbey Road

Yes… the Beatles are in the ninth spot… and I feel so sad about it. Picking a favorite Beatles’ album is kind of like choosing which thumb is the prettiest. After Rubber Soul and before Let it Be, every single record has its ups and down, and in the end, this album has the less downs, as I don’t feel any of its songs is bad. With “10” songs from the best of each one (even though the group kind of suffers), it’s an blast of an album, having many fan favorites, and even though it doesn’t have my favorite Beatles’ song, it has the rest of my top 5. Props go to the Medley and You Never Give Me Your Money.

#8 – Queen’s Sheer Heart Attack

Believe me, this is also a hard pick. What’s the best Queen album? I really don’t know. This was the first of a string of awesome albums: Night at the Opera, Day at the Races, News of the World… even Jazz I like. But why is this album different? It has a more Prog oriented feel to it, and I love Prog. It’s kind of like a curve, where Bohemian Rhapsody is the top, but right before reaching the top, they tried a lot of stuff and in my opinion, making this one the better album. Props go to Brighton Rock and In the Lap of the Gods.

#7 – Pink Floyd’s The Wall

This is the last of the really hard fucking choices. Pink Floyd is my all-time favorite band. Which of their albums is the best? Ultimately, it goes down to Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall. Which one is the greatest one? Well… Dark Side of the Moon has one song that I really don’t like (Any Colour You Like)… The Wall I also dislike heavily one song (Bring the Boys Back Home)… but The Wall is a Double-Album, so it has more great songs… that’s my reasoning, and I’m sticking with it. In the end, The Wall was the album I grew by, while Dark Side of the Moon, awesome as it may be, doesn’t have any related nostalgia to me. Props go to Hey You and Nobody Home.

#6 – Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms

Finally, a semi-easy choice. This 9 track album has been a favorite of mine for a long time. And it’s an easy choice because… Dire Straits doesn’t have anything else. Sorry if there’s a fan reading this and going “bullshit, yes they do”, well… I don’t think so. Okay, Sultans of Swing is great, but the album it’s one is subpar. This album has 3 good tracks and 6 awesome tracks, and that makes it a winner AND better than their debut. Get over it. Props go to Why Worry and Brothers in Arms.

#5 – Supertramp’s Breakfast in America

I have two distinctive sides when I’m listening to music: the side where I really enjoy great music, great rock, with awesome guitars, bass and drums… and there’s this other side that like weird stuff. Like, creepy stuff, strange stuff, quirky stuff, I adore that kind of thing. With that being said, Supertramp is fucking weird. This album has 10 weird songs, and it’s great. I love everything about this album. It’s just so freaking weird. Props go to Child of Vision and Goodbye Stranger.

 

#4 – Boston’s Boston

One of the things I wanted doing these album reviews was getting a song everybody knew about and dive into the rest of the album that song made part of. This is Boston Debut album, home of More Than a Feeling… and More Than a Feeling is the weakest song out of it. 8 songs, with different themes but with that trademark style of rock and roll Boston has, this album has it all, from rock anthems to love songs… even a sex song is disguised in it. Props go to Something About You and Foreplay/Long Time.

#3 – Jethro Tull’s Aqualung

Also another hard band to choose the best album from, Jethro Tull released a string of great to perfect albums, with this one being the perfecter. Outside of the self-titled song Aqualung, this album is the bomb. It’s the perfect “atheist” album, battling themes of religion and faith, mixing it with a rather adult look at old time fables and a sad vision of the poverty of knowledge. I love this album, and everyone should listen to it, as they should listen to all albums in this list. Props go to Wind-Up and Locomotive Breath.

#2 – Tally Hall’s Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum

8 albums from before 1990 to then bring up an album from 2005. 14 songs. 13 great songs. Remember what I said about Supertramp? Applies here. Tally Hall is the master of quirk. And the king of the bridges, also. Their songs are just so perfect, that I can’t really describe them well enough. It’s like a dream: it’s just an ethereal experience. But it’s not a snobbish kind of “you don’t get it, scram”, it’s more of a “grab on my hand and let’s dream together”. Outside of Two Wuv, every single song of this album should be listened to and admired. This album should be framed. Props go to Ruler of Everything and Be Born.

#1 – Deep Purple’s Machine Head

I love weird stuff, but it comes a time where the pure awesomeness of great rock surpasses weird by a longshot. This is a 7 song long album… and every single song of this album is perfect. Like… 10 out of 10. Every single song of this album I could listen to. And it’s the album of Highway Star and Smoke on the Water, songs so high-wired to the mind that it’s impossible not to recognize. This album should be considered obligatory at school. And it’s like… every single song works so well, it’s hard to pinpoint the best out of it. But I’ll try. Props to Pictures of Home and Maybe I’m a Leo.

Agree, disagree? Comment below. This is JotaKa, signing off.

I Just Now: Saw Fairy Tail

So, I’ve been watching Fairy Tail with my girlfriend. Every weekend, we watch a buttload of episodes, started two weeks from now, we’re already on the 40 episode mark. I haven’t read the manga yet, which is pretty unusual by my standards, since I usually loathe anime, when compared to their black and white on paper counterpart.

Top 5 Reasons Why Tim Burton’s Batman is better than Nolan’s Batman

Well… I’m a bad person. I saw that theotherdude92 was doing a top 5 reasons why Nolan’s Batman is better than Tim Burton’s Batman and decided to take my stance before him, in a really dickish move, and post mine before him, kind of calling him into the battle.

Now, before anything, here is where I stand: I saw, so far, Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman and Robin, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. I may watch DKR this weekend, but since I don’t really like Nolan’s Batman movies, I would say it’s probably something I will not do. Second: this is opinion only. Most of my reasons are completely phony and completely opinionated, even though I think they are justifiable, even though I’m kind of doing this on the fly. Other issue: I’m not a Batman comic book fan; I haven’t read any of the comics that might allude to these particular movies. I’m doing this as a movie viewer. So, these are my top 5 reasons why Tim Burton’s Batman is better than Nolan’s Batman. Not in order or anything.

#5 – Batman tells a better origin story than the entirety of Batman Begins

I really dislike Batman Begins for this reason: Burton’s Batman had to set the plot of the titular character, purpose and origin, making you care for the protagonist motive, while presenting an interesting villain. Batman Begins did nothing of the sort. Presenting a bottom barrel villain, with no real intentions, and giving the lead character a mighty jab on his independency: from what I’ve got from the few comics I’ve read, Bruce Wayne self-taught himself everything, that’s why he’s the best detective of the world, while in Batman Begins, he gets tutoring. Batman Begins for me was a way to set a bad precedent: Batman needs incentive, teaching and a mentor that transplants his ideology to go fighting crime, instead of just being bad ass on his own.

#4 – Michael Keaton convinces me he’s not Batman, Christian Bale not so much

This was always something that bothered me. As Batman, it’s a tough call of who’s the best one. Of course, the freaking Bale’s voice is annoying as fuck, but still, he’s not only that. However, Christian Bale, as Bruce Wayne, just looks and reeks as “Hi, I’m Batman”. The way he acts, the way he talks, the way he interacts with everyone… even the script helps this out, with the fact that “Wayne’s missing, no batman, Wayne’s back, batman!”, but as a character, Michael Keaton is much more convincing as Bruce Wayne that Christian Bale. The way he acts, the way he talks… he sounds inoffensive. He’s a fun guy, with a fun attitude, light hearted, and when he says “I’m Batman”, it’s really surprising.

#3 – The Portrayal of the Villains

Heath Ledger’s joker is the best cinema Joker. There’s no doubt about that. However… it’s just him. Let’s pit them side by side. Let’s rate them, shall we?

On Nolan’s side, we have:

Rhaz-Al-Ghul, a character that is annoying, purposeless, pompous and only serves to show how pushed around Batman can be. He’s the master of the dark ninja clan or whatever, but would you call Liam Neeson a ninja? For me, he’s a clear 3/10.

Scarecrow, a guy that scares mental patients. I still don’t know why Batman Begins exists, maybe it’s important in the comics, but this guy, just makes me angry. Boring, without a clear motive, completely crazy, obviously a guy that wouldn’t pass any exam to treat any mental case at all. 1/10

Joker, I don’t think there’s too much to say that everyone already hasn’t said. He’s awesome. My only complaint is that he didn’t use any of the stuff that the Joker uses: acid flowers squirts, hand shake shockers… still, a 9/10.

On Burton’s side:

Joker: Jack Nicholson is freaking awesome, comfortable in his role, menacing as all hell… however, I don’t like the origin they give and I although I feel a bit threatened by him, I think he did such an amazing job of being a buffoon that I can’t treat him that seriously. 8/10.

CatWoman: Michelle Pfeiffer is sexy as hell. I haven’t seen the Anne Hathaway catwoman, but I doubt that she will do what Michelle Pfeiffer did. She’s just perfect as cat woman: threatening, sexy, clever… she’s an antagonist, but you see yourself rooting for her much more often than to Batman. 7/10

Penguin: Denny DeVito fucking rules as Penguin. So much that I think no one could do what he did to the role. Yes, he’s being manipulated, yes, he’s much more mythical that in any prior reincarnation. But at the end of the movie, you feel sorry for him, at the same time that you want him dead. It’s one of the few villains that I think are highly underrated by fans. 8/10

See? In the end, we have three great villains against one perfect villains and two so bland its forgettable villains.

#2 – More interesting Gotham related shots and scenery

Nolan’s Batman main character is the city. The way it is shot, the way it is lit, that city is amazing. But when I think of Gotham, I don’t think of the Gotham in the Nolan movies. I think of huge skyscrapers, with everything being gothic and obscure: Black and gray instead of dark orange and black. Nolan’s Batman was realistic, yes, but who wants realism with their batman? Burton’s Batman felt like a black and white graphic novel. And that’s not even counting the ice related shots from Batman Returns. Just those scenes alones, with the city semi-frozen because of the Christmas are almost worth the movie alone. Every fall from the top of the building in Burton’s Batman was a skyscraper: that’s the Gotham I want.

#1 – The Music

I love Danny Elfman’s body of work. Although I can see that he’s screwing up nowadays, Batman was from a time when he was still at his best game. Every time I see Batman in any movie showing up for the first time, I think “bãm bãm bãm bãm bãm bãm”. I don’t remember a single tune of Nolan’s Batman. And that’s kind of a trend with super hero movies nowadays, with Avengers having no particular huge theme. I miss that, as that’s basically the one huge reason I really do not like Nolan’s work: you get out without a tune in your head. And when you had fucking Danny Elfman to compete against, you had to try something, anything really. But no, it’s almost a silent movie. Looking back, I can see the great visuals that Nolan’s Batman has, but on the sound department, that movie was a disaster.

These are my reasons. If you feel like disagreeing and want to disagree with any particular point, post below. This is JotaKa, signing off.

I Just Now: Beated Fatal Frame 2 on the Wii

I’m not a fan of horror games. I get scared really easy. I play these games at daylight, with the door open, because I’m a pretty pussy. This was an example of that. This game was played in various times on the day, including midnight… but mostly at daylight. But what is Fatal Frame? Small spoilers will be included.

Top 6-10 Favorite Finished Manga

Well, in June, I did my top 5 favorite finished manga… but I want to do more. And I don’t fully agree with what I said back then (other than Yu Yu Hakusho, I just really enjoy those others equally), so here is my top 6-10 favorite finished manga.

Time by ELO

http://blip.tv/JKStudio/jotaka-studio-reviews-time-by-electric-light-orchestra-6298273

Another concept album review, this time on the sci-fi prog rock album Time. How does it fare?
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Edit wise, I think this is the best it’s gonna get, at least for some time. Now, to inhance the acting/voice over!