There are few things as corny and cliché as people singing traditional Christmas songs. Sex toy Tinashe is no exception. At least this isn’t a full album. Not that there aren’t any good renditions.
Merry Gentlemen, from which the set title is inspired, and The Christmas Song sound nice. Most of the others do better as background music while wrapping gifts or drinking eggnog.
my rating : 3 of 5
2020
This horror flick, some scenes of which might even be nightmare-inducing, would be good if the characterization wasn’t so bad. That comes in the form of misplaced comedy, underacting; the protagonist is as wooden as that Basket he carries around; and overacting. People scream a lot in this movie.
The plot has Duane, a newcomer to New York City, helping his formerly conjoined twin brother; a little freakishly deformed “monster”; get revenge on (kill) the people responsible for separating them. It’s a quirky and campy concept that, while engrossing, would be better if it took itself a bit more seriously.
my rating : 3 of 5
1982
audio review : Basket Case [ Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ]
video review : Basket Case 2
If this is music to Reminisce to, as the title suggests, it’s music you’ll probably fall asleep to while doing it, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The soothing vocals of Nick Laird-Clowes inspire moods of solemnity and serenity.
These songs might be better without all the glossy production, but you’ll have a hard time finding a weed among them. The end of Here; a lullaby about home; is quite nice, along with Everybody’s Gotta Learn and Power To Believe.
my rating : 3 of 5
1987
A pretty female whose main goal is to “find a man” to have sex with seems like a dream come true, but she’s more of a nightmare; a killer space alien looking to breed so that her Species can take over the planet. The plot is a game of cat and rat as she saunters LA, looking for a sperm donor.
On her high heels are a team of two scientists, a government hitman and a psychic “empath”. It’s that last tracker, a convenient plot device named Dan Smithson, who inspires the most eyerolls. The characterization is also cliché. It’s Sil and her violent antics that keep things interesting.
my rating : 3 of 5
1995
This is KRS-One’s first album since leaving Jive; the major record label he’d been with since By All Means Necessary, which the “contradictory” Teacha also held a gun on the cover of. What this Koch debut brings is what sounds like a much lower school budget compared to his previous set, I Got Next, which included as a bonus song a remix with Puff Daddy.
There are no guest rappers here, but The MC is lyrically as “fresh” as ever. What’s stale are some of these beats and hooks. What Kinda World, Get Your Self Up and Krush Them are particularly banal. The Lessin is a good one though and the Sneak Attack title song is a banger. The album also ends with two standouts; False Pride and The Raptizm.
my rating : 3 of 5
2001
I mentioned how the end of Anderson Silva’s MMA career is headed the way of BJ Penn in my review of his previous bout. This one makes the comparison even closer. Silva’s fall from grace, which began years ago at the hands of Chris Weidman, isn’t as bad; Penn has seven losses in a row; but it’s bad. This was promoted as his farewell, but he says in the post interview that he doesn’t know if it will be. As much as I look forward to his fights; he’s my favorite fighter, so this relatively unpopular main event was my most anticipated of the year; I hope it is.
That’s not to say that Anderson Silva; the oldest fighter in The UFC; is no longer a worthy contender. He may not have access to The Matrix anymore, but he can still win rounds. Uriah Hall knocks him down at the end of the third, but Silva is winning the fight, rather a tentative Hall is losing, until then. It’s the first time Silva goes down from a face punch since he fought Michael Bisping. Then it happens again in the forth. It’s a sad ending indeed, though it’s Hall who seems affected by it the most. The bout ends with him embracing and weeping with his hero.
my rating : 3 of 5
2020
![audio review : Extinction Level Event 2 [ The Wrath of God ] ( album ) ... Busta Rhymes](https://marcellee.com/posts/101071.jpg)
It seems absurd for an Extinction Level Event to have a sequel after just 22 years; The Final World Front wasn’t so final; but here we have it, which isn’t to say it doesn’t sometimes come close to justifying its existence. Busta Rhymes, now a Leader of the old school, still brings the boom-bap; vintage hip-hop producers featured here include 9th Wonder, Pete Rock, DJ Premier and DJ Scratch; and his flamboyant rap style still sounds fresh after all these years.
With that, ELE2 sounds damn good when it’s just Busta Rhyming to a beat. He says Czar is “music for riots” and, though his groupthink ideology in regard to race and religion suggest he’s more of a boneheaded caveman, it gets you amped enough to be just that. Boomp sounds even better. What the album would be better without is the bombastic Intro, ill-fitting song interpolations; he resurrects ODB and BBD; silly skits and irky Chris Rock monologues.
my rating : 3 of 5
2020
There are some Positions I’d like to put Ariana Grande in. Her body is perfectly petite and her face is cute enough under all the fakeup. Sex and romance is what almost every song on this album is about. That’s no surprise. Grande is an exemplification of pop girl clichés.
The music, produced mostly by Tommy Brown, is the best part. It’s the singer’s cutesy vocals that let it down. My Hair, which is also let down so that her guy can run his “hands” (fingers) thru it, is a sheeny (funky) exception. 34-35, about having sex “all night”, is another.
my rating : 3 of 5
2020
This album presents Wu-Tang Clan as not just a rap group but a cultural and spiritual movement, though Islam is the religion of choice and mere men are referred to as “god”. It’s a “double CD” of what Rza describes as hip-hop “in the purest form”. That’s a boastful claim, but it’s one that’s hard to argue against when it comes to the beats; raw lo-fidelity New York City slum music.
The verses; there are no nonaffiliate guest rappers; are consistently on-point, especially in the case of Rza. He’s my favorite rapper in the group, despite his mumble-mouth speech impediment. It’s the hooks, not so much the silly Kung Fu samples or sloppy mixing and mastering, that flaw the set. Reunited is a grand opener though and Bells Of War is one of their best songs.
my rating : 3 of 5
1997
![video review : The Lost World [ Jurassic Park ]](https://marcellee.com/posts/99961.jpg)
The dinosaurs don’t disappoint in this official Jurassic Park sequel. It’s the people; Ian Malcolm, who takes the lead and loses most of his charm in the process, now has a black kid slash convenient plot device to annoy us with; and the trite trails they tread that make the trip less fun this time around.
It’s not until about halfway in that any real sense of suspense begins. The plot is predictable at times; dinosaurs eat expendable characters immediately and give the main ones time to escape; but at least it starts to feel like Jurassic Park. The best part is when a T-Rex finds its way to suburban San Diego.
my rating : 3 of 5
1997
This is essentially acoustic folk music, which might come as an unpleasant surprise to hardcore STP fans. I’m not and can appreciate its desolate ambience; my musical tastes are about as diverse as it gets; wherever it may be. “Perdida” is, after all, a Spanish word meaning lost.
Some of the songs themselves are also nice. Others just humdrum along. The best include the title ballad, which, appropriately enough, begins with what sounds like a flamenco guitar. “I’m lost in circles most the time,” Jeff Guts confesses, “Behind the smile, I’m slowly dying.”
Is he being overdramatic? Perhaps, but that’s sort of what the band’s going for here. The album begins with a sad “love” song entitled Fare Thee Well and, with the exception of She’s My Queen, there isn’t a glimmer of hope until the end when a Sunburst is at last revealed.
my rating : 3 of 5
2020
I like B-Real, but starting an MC Eiht album with a verse by anyone other than MC Eiht is unfitting to say the least. He and Chill go on to pay heavy-handed homage to the Cypress Hill frontman by mimicking their old vocals. Once you get past the blunders of that first song, this is a decent “2020” rap album.
As usual, the best parts are the beats; Bluue Wave, the extra “u” of which is a mystery to me, is a potential classic ruined by a lame hook; but there are subliminal Lessons to be learned in the lyrics, especially if you happen to live in a hood that’s taken you under. For MC Eiht, it’s the gangland streets of Compton.
my rating : 3 of 5
2020