A Set List For The Fans (Why Not?)

Like any other music fan, I enjoy seeing my favorite artists live in concert. I enjoy seeing them no matter what. I go to see Motley Crue shows, even though Vince is out of shape and has a hard time keeping up with the lyrics, just like I went and saw Def Leppared when Joe's voice was in real bad shape for a period of time. However, one minor thing that could really be improved in most shows I go to see, are the set lists. It seems that at least the bands I go see, Usually being 80's hair metal groups that are still around, care more about pleasing the fake fans that go to hear the greatest hits, rather than the real fans. This is understandable, so I don't expect to hear non-hits. But as a real fan, when it comes to, Say Def Leppard, I'd like to hear more than just songs from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th record live. I'd love to hear a few songs for the first record as well as the latest record and I'd also love to hear some of thier 90's music live. Why not include a few songs from Adrenalize, or Slang. Not to mention Euphoria, which was a fantastic album!

Aside from the crappie set lists, another issue is changing the set lists. Come on all ready! Styx is the worst when it comes to this. They play the same songs every tour and usually all always most in the same order, minus a few songs switches. It was incredibly annoying with Def Leppard! Thank God they opened with Rock Rock on the last tour. There is no reason to open up with Rocket, 2 tours in a row. But even now that they've finally changed the opener, the set list is still the same old greatest hits set list. Billy Joel is also getting annoying with his over use of Angry young man as an opener. It's a fantastic song to open a show with, but come on! He has many other fantastic songs that he could use as an opener. Speaking of BJ, he's much better with his set lists. He includes non-hits, which I love! More bands need to do this. I'm not saying a band like, say Motley Crue, for example, should play Generation Swine live. Because no one would really get into that. But there is nothing wrong with playing a Non-hit that's a better more well known.

Here's a perfect example a well put together set list for the fans.

A Billy Joel Set List (As An Example):

First set

1. Sleeping with the Televsion on

2. Uptown Girl

3. I Go Extremes

4. Angry young man

5. Zanzibar

6. Just The Way You Are

7. Storm Front

8. Big short

9. The Entertainer

10. The Stranger

Second set

1. All For Leyna

2. Half a Mile Away

3. While The Night Is Still Young

4. Allentown

5. She's Got a way

6. My Life

7. River of Dreams

8. Tell Her About It

9. Movin Out

10. Pressure

11. We did'nt start the fire

12. Piano Man

That's a god set list. Over all, I feel these bands need to care more about the real fans, rather than the fake fans that come to hang with some friends, drink and hear that 1 big hit that they remember. Because this whole set list thing is very besetting.

Last Action Hero - Review

What is there to say about this film? Last action hero. A movie about a magical ticket, put in the hands of a young action film fan, that opens a portal into the movie world. Well, for starters, it's another one of those films that's amazing as a little kid. Then you watch it again at 14 and realize how stupid it is. This movie isn't bad, it's actually pretty decant. However, the whole magical ticket aspect, mixed in with all the Arnold action really throws me off. Is it a kids movie? Is it an action? What's going on here? Well, after taking some time to gather my thoughts, here's what I think about the film.

Lets start with the main charcter, Danny. He's a young kid, who seems incredibly bored with his life and just the real world in general. He sneaks off to a closed down theater, where is friend shows him films for free, while he should be in school. At the movies he's at home. Now Arnold comes into play as the cliche action hero in Danny's favorite movie series, Jack Slater. He's awesome. Just blowing things up left and right and beating up bad guys. Now once, Danny is given a magical ticket by his buddy who runs the theater, he is accidentally brought into Jack Slaters world. Past this point he's just following the dude around, trying to convince him that he lives in a movie. This is very annoying, and while watching, you are just as bothered as Jack is. This kid really needs to get a bit older. His high little kid voice drives me insane!

Through out the film, Danny stays by Jack's side while he gets into battles and goes about his action packed life. Once they both cross over to the real world, things change and the film becomes more about a fictional character realizing that he has no perpus in the world, as well as seeing that in the real world, the bad guys can win. There are alos a lot of cool real world fight scenes and such. It is also cool to see the actors who played the fictional characters interact with the characters as well.

Over all, It's an Okay movie, but very cheesy and could have been done better.

2 1/2 Stars

Kick-Ass - Review

Kick-Ass was an interesting film. It was action packed and incredibly funny as expected, but it was also very surprising and took a brutal and realistic view of what would happen if regular people tried to be Super Hero's. And how basic is that plot by the way? It makes me wonder why this has not been done by now. Over 100 years of film making has run the industry out of ideas and that's what leads to unnecessary sequels and terrible remakes. It seems like something a person can come up with off the top of their head. But apparently this is a comic, which is pretty cool. As for it making it's way to the big screen, Well, there have been a number of complaints and articles about the film and over the top characters. So now that I've had the time to see the films, gather my thoughts and also listen to the reviews and complaints, I'm ready to lay down my thoughts on Kick-Ass (The Most Epic Super Hero Flick since Dark Night).





So about the plot, Like I said, It's Basic. Dave Lizewski is an average every day school geek who enjoys Comics and palling around with his buddies. He has a boring life. He soon decides that he is going to try to be a super hero. So he orders some sort of Green Ninja costume online and makes a Myspace page where people can ask for help if they need it. Before seeing this film, the first thing that came to mind is "How does this kid just go around beating up bad guys like it's nothing?" Well, the first time he fights crime he gets stabbed and then run over by a car. The only way to save him apparently, was to put metal plates in his body that protect his bones. A great idea but there could have been more thought put into it. So no he's unstoppable. He goes around town beating up bad guys and saving innocent people. It's not long before footage of him doing this is uploaded to the Internet. So he becomes famous around the city.



Mean while, Nick Cage's character and his daughter are going after an arch enemy from the past. This is where things get weird and a lot of the comedy is stripped away from the film. Damon (Super Hero name: Big Daddy) is an angry rambo type murderer who is training his daughter Mindy (Super Hero Name: Hit Girl) to be a skilled killer like him. It's insane. This little kid steals the show. Hit Girl is a Vulgar 12 year old girl who is unrealistically skilled when it comes to battle. I don't care as much about the swearing but when Hit Girl first appears in costume, I was completely thrown off. Up to this point in the film, we've seen nothing but comedy and good action fun. But now we have a 12 year old who is cutting people's legs off, shooting people in the mouth, Killing people. And all though she's not doing this to innocent people and she's fighting the bad guys, It's a bit disturbing. Especially since she is presented as a Super Hero. So as epic as these battle scenes between hit girl and the bad guys are, I still find them a bit disturbing.

But back to the story. Eventually the mobster Big Daddy and Hit Girl are going after, discovers that it's a "Super Hero" who's killing his men. And he goes after Kick-Ass, thinking he did it. This is where Red Mist comes to play. This would be the Mobster's son who is pretending to be a super hero in order to get Kick-Ass Where his Father wants him. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is a delight as always. However, He does not seem to be taking on a different role in this film. He's the same sort of character he always plays. Just put McLovin in a Super Hero costume and there you go, Red Mist. Still, he's awesome! Gotta Love Mclovin as a Super hero!

Past this point in the film. Things get hard core. There are epic battles, explosions, guns wars, Everything. People get torchored, Super Hero's die, it gets intense. Once again, it shows that an ordinary person cannot mess with the mob with out getting into big trouble. And that's something I love about this film. If all the Super Hero's where unstoppable it would be too cheesy and unrealistic. Not that Hit Girl is realistic but she's besides the point.

Over all, this film was fantastic. INCREDIBLY EPIC AND OVER THE TOP. And as much as the Hit Girl character bothered me, after seeing the film all the way through and having time to think about it. I just need to except the fact that this is an epic and over the top film. It's epic insanity. In what other film will you see a 12 year old using begrimed language and battling against 40 mobsters?

So Kick-Ass gets 4 stars.

Karate Kid 3 - Review

How did this happen? Seriously? How do they go wrong with Karate kid? They must have had a change in writers. Possibly some 10 year old who won a chance to write the screen play for the next Karate kid film by finding a golden ticket under the lid of his Go-gurt bottle, because this move is terrible!

Until Karate kid 3 came a long, we had two perfect Karate kid films. So I had high hopes for the next Karate kid film. I of course was let down. The film really could have been good. In this 3rd installment, Danny is living with Mr. Miyagi while his mother is away and he is planning on going to college. But when he learns of Mr. Miyagi's dream of owning a tree store. He spends his college money on a shop for him. While all this is going on, Martin Kove's Character John Kreese is sending a friend (Mike) after Mr. Miyagi and Daniel as revenge for beating his student in the tournament. These guys are nuts! Seriously! There is a dialog scene where they actually get into how they or going to go about hurting Daniel and Miyagi fiscally and mentally. Jeez! Like I said before, Karate kid villains are so over the top.

So while the bad guys are arranging this epic revenge battle, Danny is helping Mr. Miyagi around the shop and meets a girl who works at a pottery store across the street. He hangs around with her through out all most the rest of the film. But back to the bad guys. Mike Finds this tough Karate kid who is really dangerous and sends him after Daniel. He keeps trying to get him to sign a contract to fight in the next Karate tournament so he could beat him up. But Daniel refuses repeatedly, as Mr. Miyagi had taught him earlier in the film that Karate is used to defend honor and life, not a trophy. Once again, this bad Karate kid is way over the top! He even threatens to drown Daniel and his girl at one point in an attempt to get him to sign the contract again. At this point, Daniel is so angry he wants to fight, but Mr. Miyagi still refuses to train him. Which is stupid because by fighting a kid who has been pushing him around, he is defending his honor. But Dan is too stupid to come out and say it.

Once Dan is frustrated enough, Mike starts playing games with his head. He introduces him self to Daniel and comes off as a real nice guy who wants to help train him. And boy is this guy an actor. But once he starts training Daniel, he goes against everything Miyagi taught him about skill and turns Daniel to using rage and anger in karate, Turning Daniel into a monster. He starts lashing out at Miyagi, bringing him to tears and breaking some kid's nose out of anger. It's insanity.

So coming down to the end. Dan gets back on the right track and realizes Mike is out to get him. He turns down the challenge against his Karate kid, resulting in a fight in which Miyagi shows up and kicks every one's butt. Awesome as always! After this Miyagi decides to train Daniel. However, there was no awesome training montage like in the others. Just one scene of Miyagi and Dan doing Karate moves slowly on a hill. What was that? Come on! And in the final battle in the tournament against the bad Karate kid, he gets BEAT UP, only to win in over time or whatever by one point in which he flips the kid on to the ground. As the bad guys look at each other in disappointment and Daniel and Miyagi hug with joy as if they have just triumphed, I'm thinking "WHAT IS THIS? ARE YOU KIDDING?"

This so not Karate kid. All the Karate kid movies sit you through scenes of Daniel getting beat up and pushed around, making it all the more fun to watch him beat them up and fight back in the ending scene. But after all the crap Daniel has been put through again, he win the tournament by one point in over time. That is Horrendous !

Over all, a terrible way to end the trilogy.

1 Star

Slang - Album Review

Slang is often considered the worst Def Leppard record. I agree, it's not their best work. But it's not a bad album. Not their worst anyway. Retro Active, in my opinion, would be their worst record. Slang is actually pretty good. I can understand fans thinking that it's a bit odd to hear a Def Leppard album that tried to settle in with the 90's music scene, rather than another party, hair metal record. But I, as a Leppard fan, do not see how other fans hated this album. I have friends that hate this album. In fact, a good friend of mine passed away in 2007, and the last conversation I had with him before he died, was about how terrible Slang is (From his point of view of course). But this really is a good album. So here's my review, of my favorite band's 7th album, Slang.



This album has some great songs on it, such as Truth, Work it out, All I want is everything, Deliver me, Breathe a sigh, Turn to dust and Slang. Work it out is one of my favorites. It was Vivian's first song writing contribution to Def Leppard. Slang is an awesome popy, hard rock song and I also love Truth, which is the opening track. Those would have to be my top favorites.
Not every song is great. I'm not crazy about Blood runs cold, Where does love go when it dies or Pearl of Euphoria. But, Over all, I think the good songs out way the bad ones.

Over all, Yes it's different, but it's a great record. I like to hear new sounds from my favorite bands as long as it's not to far off of their style. And I enjoyed hearing Joe sing in a lower register. It was cool.

So Slang gets 3 stars

The Next Karate Kid - Review

This may be the most unnecessary movie sequel ever. Coming in second, only to Jason Takes Manhattan. But seriously, who wants to see Mr. Miyagi train another karate kid? And a girl at that? But all in all, it's actually a petty good movie. Nothing special, but another movie about a teenager being taught karate by an old Asian man who beats up young people that underestimate him because he's old. It's fantastic stuff. So lets talk about it.

In this 4th installment in the Karate kid series, Mr. Miyagi, while visiting an old friend, notices that her daughter Juli , played by a young Hilary Swank, is going through some rough times. So he decides to teach her karate! That's all ways a good way to help someone right? Well, anyway. Juli's the average punky teenager. She's got a bad, snotty attitude. It seems to be do to the death of her parents, as well as her troubles at school. You really hate her at first. But through out her training, we see her change into a nice, happy, like able character.

As always, the most unrealistic part of the film, is the fight scenes. Not the fighting it's self, but how the fights are ser up. Why is everyone out to get Miyagi and Juli? Seriously? Everywhere they go, someone wants to beat them up. There was a scene where where the guy at the gas station tries to beat up Miyagi because he pet his dog, for God's sake!

The fighting is entertaining as always. But these must be the cheesiest looking fight scenes in the series. The gas station fight, as well as the final FRACAS between the gang leader and Juli just didint do it for me.

Over all, it's an ok film. I always loved it when I was little. But now as I'm getting older I'm not as amussed by a lot of the cheesy fighting.

3 1/2 stars for the Next Karate kid

Freddy Vs. Jason 2 (Don't Believe The Hype)

Freddy vs. Jason part 2 has been talked about ever since the release of the first film. And if a sequel were to come out a year or so after the original, then yes, it could of worked. But that's not the case. I don't know if this was ever talked about, or if it's just one big joke. This seems to be mainly used for fun on you tube, with fake trailers and skit with little kids and masks. These videos and fake articles have, over time, become more believable. But if you think about it, there's just no way it could work.

First of all, everyone says this movie sucked. I loved it. But that's just because it's Freddy and Jason fighting each other in a movie, now thats awesome. Yes, it's hard to take seriously, but it's good fun. But still most people say "Oh Freddy vs. Jason? Yeah it sucked" am I wrong? Maybe it's just me, but I can't remember ever hearing any adults tell me they enjoyed the movie. It's usually only kids. So thats the first reason.

Also, has anyone considered the fact that both films have been remade? Yeah think about that. That would be like if there were a Dracula sequel after the Christopher Lee Dracula remakes. You can't just ignore the fact that the film was remade and keep making sequels. And that's the thing. The industry is not all about sequels anymore, it's all about remakes now.

And that's why, No matter how much you hear about it, there will never be a Freddy Vs. Jason 2. Just like there will never be a Rocky 7.

Quite a pointless blog post. But I've got nothing else on my mind. These are the things I think about. :)