Tag / Frozen

by admin

Fifty Years Of Music – 2014

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 2014, the year I turned 40.  At 82 songs, we have broken past 80% of the Hot 100 that remain familiar to me today for the first time, with 62 of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#83: Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams – Blurred Lines
iTunes stats: N/A

Featuring a video that included a very topless Emily Ratajkowski, the song spent twelve weeks atop the Hot 100 in the summer of 2013.

#48: Katy Perry – Roar
iTunes stats: 2 plays

The lead single from the singer’s fourth studio album, it spent two weeks at #1 in the fall of 2013

#44: Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball
iTunes stats: N/A

The first chart topping single of Cyrus’ career, it holds the record for the longest gap between stints at #1 with nine weeks for its three non-consecutive weeks atop the Hot 100.

#21: Idina Menzel – Let It Go
iTunes stats: N/A

The ubiquitous theme song from Frozen, it peaked at #5.

#20: Lorde – Royals
iTunes stats: N/A

Spending nine weeks at #1, the New Zealand singer’s debut single won two Grammys in 2014.

#15: DJ Snake and Lil Jon – Turn Down for What
iTunes stats: 20 plays

Peaking at #4, it became the first top ten hit for DJ Snake and the ninth for Lil Jon

#13: Taylor Swift – Shake It Off
iTunes stats: 54 plays

The lead single from her fifth studio album, it spent four non-consecutive weeks at #1.

#8: Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass
iTunes stats: 30 plays

The debut single from the singer-songwriter, it spent eight weeks atop the Hot 100 and was the best-selling single of the decade for a female artist.

#1: Pharrell Williams – Happy
iTunes stats: N/A

Spending ten weeks at #1 in the spring, it was nominated for an Oscar and won a Grammy.

by admin

Midseason Review – Sundays

old-tv-set1With the advent of winter premieres, the start of the premium cable network shows, and with February sweeps around the corner, it’s time to revisit my thoughts from the beginning of the season and look ahead at what’s to come for Sunday nights.

7:00

Once Upon A Time – The fairy tale show is back for season 4, after an uptick in quality during the past season.  With little else in competition, I see no reason not to continue turning in.

The first half of the season was a shameless attempt at cashing in on the Frozen phenomenon.  We shall see what the producers have up their sleeve for the spring.

7:30

Brooklyn Nine-Nine – FOX has moved its breakout comedy hit from Tuesday nights, where it was ill-matched with New Girl and The Mindy Project.  Now it will compete along side more like minded, if animated, comedies.

The show still has a tendency to treat Andy Samberg’s character as too much of a simpleton to be taken seriously as a successful detective, but, beyond that, it is still bringing the funny.

8:00

Resurrection – ABC’s tale of what happens when the dead start to return, as though nothing had happened, became the surprise hit of the spring.  The mystery of why seems to be a big part of the show, so I imagine they will need to tackle that sooner rather than later, and I can’t imagine how they can come up with something reasonable.

The show is burning through its cast of characters, and hasn’t really addressed much of the mythology behind the how and why the dead have returned.  I still think they will need to do so soon.

The Good Wife – More like the Great Wife, if you catch my drift.  Rarely do you see a show hit a creative high point in season 5, but that is exactly what The Good Wife did last season.  The status quo was upset once again in the season finale, so it will be interesting to see things play out once again.

Interesting point about the show: Julianna Margulies and Archie Panjabi have not shared a scene together since episode 14 of season 4, which aired on February 17, 2013.

The Newsroom – HBO’s and Aaron Sorkin’s take on 24 hour cable news returns for a third and final season, dealing with the fallout of last season’s faked story storyline.

The show, and possibly Aaron Sorkin’s television career, wrapped up in December after a final season dealing with a fake Edward Snowden and the real Edward Snowden.

Homeland – The fourth season gives the show a fresh start, with Brody finally dead.  Time will tell if they are able to pull out of the talespin that overextending the Brody story put them in to.

When dealing with CIA spy stuff in Islamabad, the show was as good as its ever been.  When dealing with Carrie’s personal life, opinions diverged.

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by jim

The Lesser Oscar Predictions

side_oscarWith the Academy Awards scheduled for Sunday night, here’s my predictions for the non-acting awards.  I likely have seen very few of these movies, so I will mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth.

Best Original Screenplay

Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell, American Hustle

Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine

Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack, Dallas Buyers Club

Spike Jonze, Her

Bob Nelson, Nebraska

I haven’t seen any of these films yet.  The backlash against Woody Allen after the Golden Globes will likely hurt him.  I’m thinking Spike Jonze’s tale of falling in love with a Siri-like AI will take home the prize.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke, Before Midnight

Billy Ray, Captain Phillips

Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, Philomena

John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave

Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street

Slave and The Wolf of Wall Street, with John Ridley taking home the Oscar for his adaptation of the 1853 memoir.

Best Animated Feature

Frozen

The Croods

The Wind Rises

Despicable Me 2

Ernest & Celestine

Again, I haven’t seen any of these and I’m likely not ever going to.  That said, Frozen appears to be a hit for the ages, so I’m going to go wih that.

Best Cinematography

Philippe Le Sourd, The Grandmaster

Emmanuel Lubezki, Gravity

Bruno Delbonnel, Inside Llewyn Davis

Phedon Papamichael, Nebraska

Roger A. Deakins, Prisoners

The technical wizadry that was Gravity should have no problem taking home this prize.

Best Costume Design

Michael Wilkinson, American Hustle

William Chang Suk Ping, The Grandmaster

Catherine Martin, The Great Gatsby

Michael O’Connor, The Invisible Woman

Patricia Norris, 12 Years a Slave

There’s nothing Oscar voters for this category like more than period pieces, and this year gives them many to choose from. My guess is that the Roaring 20s will rule the day and that The Great Gatsby will take home the prize.

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by jim

2011 Review – Movies Part 1

Like last year, I’m going to take a look back at the movies I saw during the previous year.  When not working, watching too much TV, going to baseball games, or reading, I managed to watch 131 new movies last year.

Natalie Portman starred in 4 films I saw for the yearly lead, with Leonardo DiCaprio coming in second with 3.

For fun, here’s a quick review of the first 50 films I saw last year and what recollection, if any, I have of them.  They are listed in the order I saw them.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
2 vacationing American girls fall in love with the same Spanish painter.

 
Night At the Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian (2009)
I never saw the first one, but Amy Adams was enough of a draw to give this one a chance.

 

Splice (2010)
An entertaining look at what happens when scientists worry more about what they can do instead of what they should do.
 
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
The children of two lesbians go searching for their father.  My first exposure to Mia Wasikowska, who I think has a chance to be really good.

 

Bandslam (2009)
A kid obsessed with music lies about his father in order to fit in. 

 

All Good Things (2010)
Ryan Gosling kills Kirsten Dunst, and then dresses up in womens clothing. 

 

Frozen (2010)
A very engaging tale of three friends stuck on a ski lift for a week.

 

Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Tom Hanks goes looking for Leonardo DiCaprio. 

 

Inception (2010)
Leonardo DiCaprio (him again?) looks for secrets in other people’s dreams while avoiding his own.

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