ParaNorman: Stop-Motion Continuing To Blow Your Mind

by Daniela

Year: 2012
Studio: Laika

Happy Halloween lovely reader(s)! You're probably having a better Halloween than me because this girl has an exam on Saturday! Hooray for the university student life! Now, a lot of you may have expected me to write about The Nightmare Before Christmas, and even I thought I was going to for the longest time. But I thought I'd shake things up a bit and not talk about something non-Disney related for once in my life. I mean, Nightmare could also be a great movie to talk about around Christmas time, just sayin'.I remember one summer when I was trying to decide between ParaNorman and Frankenweenie. Up to that point I had often mixed the two up. Eventually I went for  ParaNorman and to this day, I still haven't watched past the first 15 minutes of Frankenweenie. I blame myself for being easily distracted.

Norman isn't a normal young boy. In fact, Norman can see and communicate with the dead. It's tough being the weird kid in the town of Blithe Hollow when you're considered an outcast even in your own family. But one day Norman comes across his uncle who informs him about the witch's curse that has been placed over the town. Suddenly, the undead have come out to play. Zombies begin to crawl out of their graves and seem to be targeting the town. Along with a troupe of unlikely companions, Norman must use his abilities to save the town. In his attempts he discovers the shocking truth about the curse and must find a way to stop it from haunting them ever again.

Would you trust this gang to save you from a Zombie Apocalypse?

Toy Story of Terror!: Why Your Toys Disappeared On Your Holiday

By Daniela

Year: 2013
Studio: Pixar Animation Studios

Halloween is just around the corner so I thought I'd get a headstart with the spooky posts! The toys are back with an all new adventure in this special that follow the events of Toy Story 3. I'm still getting over that ending. this 21 minute T.V. special is Pixar's way of building on the mega-successful franchise without having to release another full length film. I would also suggest watching the Toy Story shorts like Hawaiian Vacation, Small Fry and Partysaurus Rex. They're cute and still manage to contain everything we loved about the films in just a few minutes.

Car troubles during their road trip force Bonnie and her mother to stay at the Sleep Well Motel for the night and things escalate quickly for the toys. Woody and the gang find themselves in a frightening situation where one-by-one they are captured by a mysterious figure lurking in the motel. Together they must overcome many obstacles to survive the night and hopefully return to Bonnie before she leaves in the morning. And for one toy, the obstacle may just be facing their biggest fears.

Glow in the dark Buzz lights the way for Woody and Jessie

Kings of Suburbia: A Track-by-Track Analysis of Tokio Hotel's New Album

by Justine

FIVE YEARS! It's been FIVE YEARS! Tokio Hotel have sure taken their time in producing their latest album Kings of Suburbia but just one listen through the album will tell you why. The twins, Bill and Tom Kaulitz, relocated to LA not long after the release of their previous album, Humanoid. Contrary to what normal people may believe about LA, it seems the city provided them with a much more "live-able" lifestyle. In Germany it didn't seem like they had much chance to leave their homes or live like everyday people (I'm guessing that's what World Behind My Wall was about). The G's, Georg and Gustav, remained in Germany but the twins seem to have found a more comfortable and free lifestyle in the US. Undoubtedly, this fuelled a new kind of creativity of which the product is Kings of Suburbia. The boys have certainly shocked with their drastically different sound but once over the initial "what the hell?!" this album is actually quite good.

Feel It All

The song starts with a soft electric sound followed by a drum beat and a rather different sounding vocal from Bill. It's not nearly as auto-tuned as the other songs on this album and you can actually hear Bill's voice. It has a fairly simple structure with a very electric and "studio produced" feel rather than their trademark "live rock band" sound. While it's not exactly a stand out on the album, I find it easy to listen to and quite likeable. It's a good opening track as it's a subtle introduction to the new sound.

Stormy Weather

SO MUCH AUTO-TUNE! I sometimes wonder how on earth Bill is going to perform some of these songs live! Not that I don't doubt he can hit the high notes (he did manage to get that extremely high note in Love and Death on their Welcome to Humanoid City Tour after all). BUT, that being said, I actually really like this song. I like the low tones at the beginning of the song and the fact that the electric guitar actually plays a role in the song. The beat is great and it has a lot of power. It's one of my favourites on the album. My only criticism would be the lack of inventive lyrics in the chorus and the poor grammar (It is "a" stormy weather? Just no...). I can imagine them rocking out to this in concert - in fact I think it would be a great opening number for their tour (*hint hint*).

How to Make Adults Cry: The Saddest Scenes of Your Childhood

by Daniela

Disclaimer: Daniela is not responsible for anyone not being able to "control their feels" or any hysterical crying that may occur. These include ugly sobbing, sad faces, and hitting anyone right in the childhood. You have been warned.

We have all fallen victim to the trap that are so-called "children's movies." They lure you in with their colourful and cheery appearance but once you realise that it was all a facade... it's too late. You're too invested and there's no turning back now. Fun fact, I actually don't cry in movies (Justine on the other hand) but I have come very close on a few occasions. I'm just the person who just gets really sad who just can't shake that gut wrenching feeling afterwards. Over the past day or two, I've been putting together a list of all these heart wrenching scenes from these movies from our childhood. I even asked my friends and very helpful tumblr followers. So please take note that this is only a part of that ever-growing list. In other words, I'll be writing a part 2 at some point. So grab your box of tissues and tubs of ice-cream and let's get started. *deep breaths*

Be prepared for a lot of dying

Justin Timberlake: Bringing Sexy Back is Definitely Not A Bad Thing

by Justine

Greetings dear readers, today you will be getting more bang for your buck! Last night I attended the concert of famous, suited-up legend, Justin Timberlake along with my friend Jai. He has asked (countlessly) to guest blog so today we're giving him the chance. The first part of this blog will be my review of the concert and the second part will be his.

Straight into it then?

It's been 7 years since JT last graced the stage at Vector Arena in Auckland, and there was 13 year old me, with my family, sitting for the first time in said arena and seeing my first concert in NZ. Now, at 20 years old (*shudder*) I found myself there again, this time clad in the overpriced JT shirt I'd purchased at that last concert and with significantly better seats. We were lower bowl this time, about three rows from the floor and stage left with a freaking incredible view.

The opening act was relatively dull. It was just a DJ with his set playing an array of music and hoping to get people jumping. It was forgettable most certainly. However, it didn't make that much of a difference really - who wants an opening act that outshines the headliner anyway? (I'm looking at you PussyCat Dolls...).

By quarter to nine the show really started. The set was excellent. There was just enough room on the stage for JT and his crew to show off their superb dance moves with the Tennessee Kids (his band) directly behind looking like they were having the time of their life. A flight of stairs rose behind the band from which JT emerged atop with the stage-length screen flickering to life behind him. The opening song was the first song on his most recent album, The 20/20 Experience, called Pusher Love Girl. Admittedly, I'd only heard the song for the first time directly before the concert in my mad rush to familiarise myself with at least SOME of the new songs.

FIFA2014: 5 Songs That Would Be Better Than the Official Song

by Justine

My apologies for the serious lack of posts these last few weeks! Uni is definitely cracking down with only two weeks to finals so forgive us! I'll try my best to catch up on some posts!

It seems relatively unanimous that Pitbull should NEVER be allowed to write/perform the official song to any event. Let's face it, of all the songs that could have been the official song of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Pitbull's We Are One (Ole Ola) was probably the worst option. If the song itself wasn't bad enough, the lacklustre performance at the opening was the icing on the cake. For this week's blog, I'll be looking at five songs that would have been MUCH better options for the official 2014 World Cup song.

1. Vida - Ricky Martin

I do actually prefer the Spanish version of this song (there's one in Portuguese as well - the man is thorough!) but this was the only one with a video. As you may know already, Ricky Martin sang the official FIFA World Cup song in 1998. He did a killer job then with The Cup of Life and I personally think that his song Vida this year should have been a strong contender for the official song. It has a great, upbeat tempo with a characteristic Latin party flavour. Martin is also a pretty decent live performer and he sure puts on a show so I imagine the live performance of this would have definitely outshone Pitbull's lifeless performance. The song is catchy and fun and I can definitely picture hoards of people dancing to it in the streets of Brazil!

Movies That Should Be On Stage: Disney On Broadway

by Daniela

Some of you may or may not know that I’m an avid listener of the Rotoscopers: Animation Addicts Podcast and I also love their website. In fact, they were actually the inspiration to start this blog when I first mentioned the idea to Justine. Earlier this year they posted a list of Disney Classics they’d love to see on Broadway (which you can check out here) and it made me think about what movies I’d like to see turned into full-blown musicals. So although this may be a similar list, these are my own reasons.

Over the last year or so, I’ve started to really enjoy listening to cast recordings like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Wicked and Newsies so I’m fairly new to the Broadway fandom (if you have any show suggestions for me, please comment them down below or leave me a message on tumblr). I enjoy musicals even though I don’t even know how a show is put together. So please excuse my very unexperienced point of view. I’ve only seen a handful of musicals in my 21 years. The first being one in Philippines with THE Lea Salonga, unfortunately I can’t even remember what it was called… I was 5 or 6. I did see Beauty and the Beast when I was 10! Now I constantly check the ticket websites and try and find the next big show playing in the city.

Disney has had its hand in Broadway musicals and they’re pretty good at it. Just check out their Tonys and nominations! Their most recent venture is an adaptation of Aladdin and they are also currently working on developments for The Jungle Book and also Frozen’s big break on Broadway (it was bound to happen). They’re also responsible for bringing Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Tarzan, and The Little Mermaid to life on stage. Other shows also include Mary Poppins, Aida, Newsies and many more. So here’s a few more movies I’d love to see make their Broadway debut.

Beauty and the Beast

Sparks Fly For Lorde And Yellow Flicker Beat

by Daniela

First of all, I'm so sorry that we didn't post anything new at all last week. University is starting to wind down for the year which means due dates, due dates, due dates (say that ten times fast)! I'd hate for that to be a regular excuse that we use but that's the harsh reality of that university student life. But let's move on, shall we?

Since the first The Hunger Games (2012) movie was released, I've not only been a fan of the books and movies but also the companion soundtracks! Safe and Sound, Elastic Heart and Shooting Arrows In The Sky are still probably my favourite tracks from the first two albums.for Mockingjay - Part 1, things have started to take a different turn. Lorde is at the helm of the album and has been assigned the task of selecting the songs she thinks fit the theme of the film. It's a huge step in her career especially since she's arguably one of the newcomers taking the world by storm. She did appear on the Catching Fire soundtrack with a dark and broody cover of Everybody Wants to Rule the World. So how does Yellow Flicker Beat match-up to its predecessors?