Random Movie Post: Are Horror Movies losing their appeal?

This weekend I saw Scream 4 and I was actually impressed. It was very much like the first Scream and it's apparent that Scream writer Kevin Williamson was the main reason. But, it didn't do as well as many hoped, especially the people who want a new Scream trilogy (like me!), only gaining a little under $20 Million in the Box  Office.

I love Horror movies, and the Scream trilogy is very high on top of my favorite Horror movies. But, is the appeal  starting to fade?

For a while, it was always known that if any movie was released the same weekend as a Horror movie, the Horror movie would end up on top of the Box Office chart. But, in 2011, the most popular movies have been Children's movies. Rio earned close to $40 Million this weekend, and other movies, like Hop or Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 : Rodrick Rules, both kid movies, have been the #1 movies previous weekends. But, another factor (which I saw myself at Scream 4) is young kids sneaking into R-rated movies after buying a ticket for something like Rio, which affects the system.

SO, what does someone have to do to get their movie to be #1 at the Box Office over a Kid movie? For now, only a Blockbuster like Pirates of the Caribbean 4 or Fast and the Furious 5 are our only hope.

Female Pop Stars: The More Editing the Better?

Music is always ever changing, but a certain trend, the more digital sound, has become the norm for music, especially pop music, and the artists that use it the most seem to be the female pop singers.

It's not a secret that artists, like Britney Spears or Ke$ha, use synthesizing and auto tune, which are two seperate types of editing to make the voice sound more digital or enhance the quality of a somewhat dull voice. Synthesizing is used more than Auto-tuning because it still keeps the person's real voice intact, unlike auto-tune, that became well-known after artists such as T-Pain and Kanye West started making songs that were full of autotune and lacking of vocal talent. 

But is there really proof that anyone has vocal talent if they have their voice edited to the extreme and lip-sync so well that we can't even tell if anyone is singing anymore? 

Britney Spears is the epitome of this, being that she constantly lip syncs, and has her voice on every track edited to death so that she has a voice that is basically unachievable by a human being. She has become such a pro at Lip-syncing, her tracks have been edited for live performances to make it appear that she's really singing.

Ke$ha barely sings live because her songs are so synthesized to death, that when she sings live, she sounds terrible, and at times tone deaf. Her songs are catchy, but sound like roadkill live.

Another artist, who's vocal quality is improving as her number of studio albums increase, that uses this is Rihanna.

Rihanna is trying to make her career more of a reputable one by improving her vocal strength and popularity by performing at different events to broaden her audience, like her duet with Country singer Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland at the Academy of Country Music Awards earlier this month.


Even artists who can actually sing well use editing to make their track more of a "dance" track.

Aubrey O'Day, formerly of Danity Kane and star of the hit Reality show All About Aubrey, who just released a dance track called "Automatic" that showcased her great voice, but also had a digital quality to it. Other artists like Lady GaGa and Beyonce, who have vocal talent, also use this technology.

While it might make the track more modern and "dancey", I personally think that if it's going to be done, it should be done well. On a new remix of Rihanna's hit "S&M" featuring Britney Spears, Britney was edited so much that she sounded like she was in need of some Nasonex or some type of decongestant.

But, while this may be popular now, I hope that real talent will prevail over edited talent once again, like Adele, who's sophomore album 21 is currently the highest selling album of 2011. Even though I like dancing to these songs, I'd also like to have the same, if not a better, experience live. I'm talking to you Britney and Ke$ha.

Here's an example of Britney now with her "live" vocals: 

Here's Rihanna at her best...: 



...and at her not so best: 




And an example of non-edited vocal talent, Adele: 

Interview Assignment

Interview on my Tumblr Page

For my Interview Assignment, I interviewed my friend Cassandra McLennon, who works in the Fashion Industry at a company that produces sweaters for various retailers, such as  Forever 21, Charlotte Russe, and H&M, among others. I talked to her about Fashion, and it's ties to Music, Reality TV, and Movies. Click on the link that goes to my Tumblr Page to listen to my interview! 

(By the way, I was being silly in this picture, so don't judge! haha) 

Nickelodeon and the Academy of Country Music Brought Out the Stars this Weekend

This weekend, the Kids Choice Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards were held this weekend, and Today's hottest stars came out in droves. 

The Kids Choice Awards, hosted by Jack Black, had performances from Willow Smith, the Black Eyed Peas and even Britney Spears showed up and had a small part in the fun. Slimed Celebrities included Russell Brand, Heidi Klum, Jason Segel, and Snoop Dogg. 

Justin Bieber won Favorite Male Singer and Favorite Song, while the remake of The Karate Kid won Favorite Movie. 

At the ACMs, held in Las Vegas in the MGM Grand Hotel, hosts Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton ran the pace pretty well on Country's biggest night. 

Big name Country Performers included Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood (who was joined by Steven Tyler) ;  a duet with Jennifer Nettles of the Country duo Sugarland and Pop Superstar Rihanna basically stole the show, as the pair sang Rihanna's next single off her album Loud, California King Bed. 

The nights biggest winner was Miranda Lambert who walked away with 4 awards, including Top Female Vocalist and Song of the Year for The House that Built Me.

Taylor Swift walked away with the fan determined Entertainer of the Year, the biggest award of the night, which was the big shocker of the night. 

All of these ladies looked lovely, even though Rihanna showed up looking like a member of Desperate Housewives instead of a vibrant 23 year-old Pop star. 

In Awards to come, next Monday the New Now Next Awards will be aired on LOGO, which was one of Lady GaGa's first gigs when the awards were held in 2008. She will be making an appearance at the show, which has gotten a good amount of buzz this year, being that LOGO, the LGBTIQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Questioning) sister station to MTV, has gotten a surge of viewers with the highly popular RuPaul's Drag Race, currently in it's 3rd season. The Awards acknowledge upcoming Artists and Celebrities and look at what's "New Now and Next" in Pop Culture. 

Here are some videos of the performances at the ACMs: 

Rihanna and Jennifer Nettles - California King Bed (Full Performance at ACMs):


Carrie Underwood & Steven Tyler - Walk This Way (Part of Carrie's Full ACM Performance):