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Lady GaGa - Remix Albums Review

We all know by now that Lady GaGa is the current queen of pop and is blowing up radio stations everywhere. She has had 5 singles reach #1 but what a lot of people don't know is what she does once a song reaches #1.

For each #1 single that GaGa realeases, she produces a remix album on iTunes.

The pop sensation has had 5 #1's; Just Dance, Poker Face, LoveGame, Paparazzi, and Bad Romance. For each of those singles she has collaborated with various mixers and has released 8 remix albums exclusively on iTunes.

Each remix EP includes 3-5 remixes of the single. Sometimes, the remixes are more addicting than the original single.

This is an amazing way for GaGa to keep new material flowing (which is in high demand from her fans) as she works on her current tour and as she begins writing her 3rd album which is due to release late 2010.

These remix albums are only available on iTunes. Check 'em out!

OPINION CENTER

Rating: A

Age Range: Anyone

Ke$ha: Animal Album Review

The dollar sign-studded pop rookie released her debut album this month entitled Animal and she has already climbed her way to the #1 spot for her debut single, Tik Tok.

Although she is heavily compared to other artists and seen as a new Lady GaGa, Ke$ha has created a sound that is completely her own. And with her already landing a #1 single, she is on her way to major pop success.

Highlights on the album include Take It Off and Hungover, both depicting her very personality; a crazy drunk lady. But somehow she makes it attractive. Her infectious beats keep people wanting more which is exactly what she's wanting.

Tik Tok has reached #1 on iTunes and Billboard's Hot 100 in the past month. Could we see more #1's in the coming months? I'd like to think so.

2009 was the year of Lady GaGa, 2010 will mark the year of Ke$ha.

Tik Tok music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP6XpLQM2Cs

OPINION CENTER

Rating: B+

Age Range: 13+

The Blind Side Review

If you haven't heard the buzz about The Blind Side by now then you most likely haven't left your house since November.

This is easily Sandra Bullock's best film to date but what about the other actors in the film? We haven't heard much about them.

Tim McGraw, who played Bullock's husband, hasn't gotten many pats on the back for his performance in the film, nor has Quentin Aaron who played the aspiring football player, Michael Oher.

That may sound bad but this film was just what Bullock needed to bounce back from her horrible flop in All About Steve last September.

The film is moving in many ways but most of all it showed the common caregiving of the "southern" type people. This film depicted a very crystal clear image of how a homeless teen found a way to becoming a pro football player for the NFL.

Sandra Bullock received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama which she very much deserved. And she also won the People's Choice Award for Best Comedy for her performance in The Proposal last June.

2009 was a huge, successful year for Sandra Bullock so let's hope she can carry on just as well in 2010.

OPINION CENTER
Rating: A
Age Range: 10+

Lady GaGa - The Fame Monster Review

The highly anticipated second album of Lady GaGa is here but how does it stack up against the music nirvana of her first album "The Fame"?

Well, first off, The Fame Monster isn't really a full album, it's more of an EP. With just 8 new tracks on the CD, this is somewhat of a let-down.

I am a GaGa fanatic but when I listened to the album start to finish, it didn't feel like I had just listened to a Lady GaGa album. The only upbeat tracks on the CD are Bad Romance and Telephone (which features Beyonce), the other 6 tracks are slow-paced and felt really dark. "The Fame" was a very pop-like CD whereas "The Fame Monster" is a seemingly angry, sad version of the GaGa we've come to know. I, personally, was expecting a big step up for GaGa but this felt like 5 big steps back.

In the past year, Lady GaGa broke a music record when her debut album produced four #1 singles (Just Dance, Poker Face, LoveGame, and Paparazzi). She was also named the Most Fascinating Person of 2009 by Barbara Walters. AND she won the award for Best New Artist at this year's MTV Video Music Awards. So after I listened to the new CD I had to ask myself, "what happened?"

Lady GaGa set her bar extreamely high in the past year, moving at a pace that is nearly impossible to keep up for another year, let alone her entire career. Even though the new CD got mostly poor reviews from most critics, the first single from the album, Bad Romance, has already made it to #1. This is her fifth #1 in the past year, and with her other two singles; Speechless and Telephone, gaining more and more popularity on the radio, we might see a sixth and possibly seventh #1 from this tiny album.

At a second glance there are some highlights on the CD. The tracks Monster and Dance in the Dark reveal some clear anger from GaGa (a past boyfriend maybe?).

While currently on her Monster Ball tour, Lady GaGa still makes time for the talk shows and for her fans. I am an avid GaGa follower. She is pretty much all I listen to nowadays.

Overall the album was far too short, just 8 tracks compared to her first album's 14. A little more time and input onto the CD could have helped a lot. Let's just hope her third album will give the fans more of what they asked for.

OPINION CENTER
Rating: C+
Age Range: 13+

American Idol Season 8 Artists Review

Ok so it's now November. And all American Idol viewers know what time it is...time for the season's finalists to release their debut albums.

Season 8 winner, Kris Allen, released his self-titled debut album November 17 and runner-up Adam Lambert released his debut album entitled "For Your Entertainment" on November 23. And fourth-place finalist, Allison Iraheta is set to release her debut album in December. But how do these new artists stack up against previous finalists?

KRIS ALLEN

The winner of season 8 is clearly a talented artist but his tracks are not nearly as powerful as his competitors Adam and Allison. Kris is very laid back which will attract some buyers but he is currently hiding in Adam Lambert's shadow. He isn't performing as if he was the real winner.

Rating: C+

ADAM LAMBERT

The clear winner of season 8 is already steam rolling Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta but afte his extremely controversial AMA's performance will fans stick with him? After performing lewd gestures on national television that sparked a storm of angered viewers to call and complain to ABC, the station that hosted this year's AMA's. But Adam has enough support from his large fan base to rise from these ashes.

Rating: A-

ALLISON IRAHETA

The clear underdog of the three new artists is making a name for herself. With her smash debut single "Friday I'll Be Over U" already climbing the iTunes downloadscharts she is ready to battle the other two singers. Her album hits stores this December.

Rating: B

Saw VI Review

Ok, first off let me say that I am sorry that I haven't been blogging much lately. Sophomore year of high school is kicking me in the butt so far.

But anyway, back to the topic. I know it's been a month since Halloween but I wanted to go ahead and give my review of the sixth installment of the Saw horror franchis, Saw VI.

Some say that Saw has gone on for far too long. The instant-hit series all began in October 2004 and has released a new installment every Halloween since. But the main question is if there are enough avid fans left to carry on the series.

Saw VI cost $11 million to produce. So far it has brought in over $27 million at the box office. Most would call this a success...but not for a franchise of this magnitude. Saw VI is now officially the lowest grossing Saw film to date. Mostly because of the underdog smash hit "Paranormal Activity" which steam rolled Saw VI on its opening weekend (see my blog for a review of Paranormal Activity).

Saw VI is the preachiest of the entire series. Focusing the twisted games on people involved in health care and the controversy over how health care is given to patients.

Saw VI went where no Saw film has gone; entering popular political topics. This clearly backfired. Critics are calling the newest installment a bit of a disappointment for a clear reason to all Saw fanatics: major lack of gore.

Saw VI is the least bloodiest of the series. The Saw producers use gore to draw in horror fanatics but there was a lack of the splatter in the newest entry. Perhaps after six films the writers are merely running out of ways to torture the "game" players.

Although this is the most disappointing Saw film to date, there are no signs that the series is ending anytime soon. Recently the producers confirmed Saw VII (2010) and Saw VIII (2011) and a new trick up their sleeves; 3-D.

That is the current word on the street from the recent press conference. Saw VII is said to be in 3-D. An obvious sign of desperation but could this desperate plee draw in a new 3-D fan base? We'll find out on October 22, 2010 when the seventh installment hits theaters.

The most obvious question in everyones minds is can the Saw franchise last forever? If so, should it last forever? With over $650,000,000 grossed worldwide on box office tickets alone (not including DVD sales and merchandise sales) the answer is obvious; Saw is going nowhere anytime soon. But the franchise better pick up there A-game in the next film to keep the wheels rolling.

OPINION CENTER

Rating: D+

Age Range: 14+

Big Brother 11 Review

Well, Big Brother 11 is coming to a close in just a little less than 2 weeks. This has been a season like no other.

This was Big Brother's come-back season after a detremental drop of 1.2 million viewers last summer for Big Brother 10.

Big Brother didn't let up with the twists this season starting with the rise of the high school cliques. The 12 houseguests were split into 4 popular high school cliques based on extensive personality testing. They were split into the brains, athletes, populars, and the offbeats. Making them play the game like never before because the winning Head of Household each week could not nominate a member of their clique for eviction. Then immediatley after Julie (host) revealed that shocker she announced that there was a 13th mystery houseguest which was none other than BB10's Jessie (UGH!).

After 3 weeks the house had dwindled to 10 remaining houseguests. At this point Julie announced that the cliques were no longer in affect. Bringing relief to the populars and the offbeats due to their cliques dwindling numbers (populars ha 1 left, offbeats had 2 left).

Then the Coup d'Etat came into play. America voted on the 10 remaining HGs to receive the power to overthrow the HOH. This power was used a week later and knocked out Jessie (WOO-HOO!).

The house was down to 8 when Big Brother history was made when Chima destroyed production property and was penalty evicted from the game throwing the game into a fast-forward to get back on schedule which brought the un-fair demise of Lydia (made me really mad!).

A week of normal gameplay went by before the next twist: Pandora's Box. The house at this point is down to 5 HGs and from here on out each week the HOH would be given a temptation which could affect the game. The first was Kevin who was greedy and released $10,000 to the other 4 HGs and he was left with nothing (haha serves him right!).

That's all that's happened thus far. With only 4 houseguests remaining, now is the time to jump into BB11 if you haven't already. The finale is September 15.

OPINION CENTER

Rating: A

Age Range: 13+

Pros/Cons: Major step-up from BB10. Many many twists.

Big Brother showtimes:

Sundays at 8pm

Tuesdays at 9pm

Thursdays at 8pm

Official Big Brother Site: www.cbs.com/bigbrother

Halloween II Review

Halloween II is the re-adapted sequel to 2007's remake of the original Halloween. It starts exactly where the last one left off.

The motto for this installment is "family is forever". I won't give it away but one of the main characters turns out to be Michael Meyers' sister.

This installment is even more dissapointing than 2007's remake. It didn't really have an ensemble of main characters; just 2 real characters besides everyone that gets slashed. Constant flashbacks and confusing dreams tricks the audience into getting mixed up between what is real and what is a hallucination.

There also wasn't a real storyline other than the slasher trying to find his sister.

But there was a brief good moment at the end when we finally find out that Michael Meyers has a soft spot. I won't spoil it though.

Halloween III is already slated to release in 2011 and this time it's in 3-D. Let's hope they step it up for H3.

OPINION CENTER

Rating: C-

Age Range: 16+

Pros/Cons: No storyline, poor cast, but good surprise ending.

Don't forget that the sixth season of So You Think You Can Dance premieres tonight at 8/7c on FOX!

The Final Destination Review

The Final Destination is the fourth installment in the "Final Destination" franchise. For this go-around, the premonition occurs at a race track where the main character sees a huge race car pile up that ends up flying into the grand stands and killing everyone at the track, but it turns out to be just a vision.

From here the storyline continues just as the first three films in this franchise did; main character tells of his vision and convinces a small group of people to leave the area. Then, the vision comes true but they have left the area so they are saved...for now.

In this film, 10 people are saved by the vision. But like the franchises motto "you can't cheat death twice". Basically, death has to "correct" itself since 10 people dodged the deadly event. "Death" is very harsh and disturbing in his methods of correcting their saved lives. 1 of the 10 saved people is "corrected" within seconds after the vision comes true when a tire flies from an exploding car and decapitates her. From here the gruesomene deaths only get worse.

The most gruesome in my opinion was when a character had their insides sucked out by a drain in a pool. Yuck.

This film really didn't give closure to the franchise. This is supposedly the final film and it truly...sucked. The deaths were too gruesome to even be believable and the characters were never unified.

OPINION CENTER

Rating: C+

Age Group: 17+

Pros/Cons: Didn't provide a decent closure to the series.

Killer Review

"Killer: The Most Barbaric Murderers of Our Times" is a new book by Nigel Cawthorne. It is a compilation of exactly what the title implies; the most barbaric murderers of modern times.

The book is not for the faint of heart but it is still a good book. Each chapter chronicles the life of a famous killer. Amongst these include The Boston Strangler and The Yorkshire Ripper. The author was excellent at keeping your attention. It is not written like a biography but as a suspense thriller which makes it a real page-turner.

My personal favorite chapter is chapter 1: Natural Born Killers. It was written like a suspense thriller and not like a biography.

The only downfall to this book was that some of the chapters were far too short and didn't give the reader a feel of the event.

OPINION CENTER

Rating: B+
Age Group: 16+
Pros/Cons: Some chapters are too short but the author was excellent at making you turn the page.

Big Brother 11 Spoilers

Well, in just 4 days, the eleventh season of Big Brother will kick off for yet another summer of wacky, crazy moments! I know all of the twists for this season (I have my sources!). If you do not want to know the twists yet then don't read this post!

Ok, so there are 12 houseguests moving in July 5, doesn't seem like a lot of houseguests does it? Well, there is a mystery houseguest moving in on July 7 to stir up the house. So, this season there are 13 houseguests just like last season. I don't know the actual identity of the mystery houseguest, but I do know that it is a former houseguest. I personally hope it's Evel Dick from Big Brother 8.

That's not the only twist this year. This season is going to be similiar to Big Brother: 'Til Death Do You Part. Except this season it's not couples but it's high school cliques. The 13 houseguests will be split into four high school cliques: the jocks/athletes, the populars, the braniacs, and the offbeats/oddballs. They will compete as groups in the weekly food competitions and they cannot nominate someone from their own clique. The losing group in each week's food competition will be banished to the "banishment room". This room has no beds, they will sleep on the floor. They will also be banished from hot water in the showers. It will be interesting to watch that play out.

The Big Brother house is all about being "Green" this summer. The wallpapers in the house are made of plywood and different recycled materials. The backyard hasn't changed since last season. The HOH room is very luxurious this year. There is actually a wall waterfall behind the headboard on the bed.

Official Big Brother 11 site: www.cbs.com/bigbrother
Go here to interact in the viewer forums and to see the new houseguests.

The Big Brother 11 season premieres Thursday, July 9 at 8/7c on CBS.

Parks and Recreation Review

I have been excited for this show since Amy Poehlor left Saturday Night Live. It was well worth the wait!

The show's very first episode aired April 9. The show's first season will run through May 14. I was dissapointed to learn that the first season would only be 6 episodes but it is better than nothing.

This show is about a woman with a dream to make the perfect park. Kind of corny idea but the show does a great job of executing it. The show is filmed just like The Office, faux-documentary style which I really like.

You can watch Parks and Recreation Thursdays at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.

Official Site: http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation/

OPINION CENTER

Rating: A-

Age Group: 13+

Comments: Great show, corny plot, great leading role.

Harper's Island Review

I was anticipating the premiere of this show for months and it finally premiered!

For those of you who aren't familiar with this show, it is about 25 people that go to an island (Harper's Island) for a wedding when mysteriously, they begin to be killed one by one. It is a 13-week mystery event.

The first episode was great. SPOILER! Two people are killed in the first episode. I won't tell you who.

This is a good show but something I noticed right away was that it is going to be difficult to keep up with 25 main characters. Throughout the episode you get a taste of everyone's personality and struggles but eventually it's impossible to keep up with everyone. It should get easier to keep up as they are killed because then there won't be so many characters.

Official Site: www.harpersglobe.com

You can watch Harper's Island Thursdays at 10/9c on CBS

OPINION CENTER

Rating: B+

Age Group: 14+

Comments: Great plot, but too many characters to keep up with.

Nintendo Wii

Ok, I've been wanting a Wii for a long time and about a week ago I finally got one!

First off, this is a great console for family entertainment. It's a lot of fun to bowl with my parents every now and then. The actual Wii comes with one controller, one nunchuck, and Wii Sports game. You have to buy additional controllers as needed.

I love the Wii because there are hundreds of games and there is something for everyone. I now have seven games for the Wii and I love all of them. The only bad thing I've found so far is that it is sometimes awkward to control movement in some of the games. But you can manage.

With about a thousand games already on sale and tons more coming, there is something for everyone.

OPINION CENTER

Rating: A

Age Group: Everyone

Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow Song Review

This is the newest single from the Black Eyed Peas.

I was very excited when I found out that they have a brand new album releasing June 2, 2009 entitled, The E.N.D. But when I listened to this song it was a major letdown.

I have been a fan of the Black Eyed Peas for a long time, but this song just isn't them. It doesn't really even have a beat to it either. It's just a jumbled mess of bad rapping.

It's not entirely bad though. I liked Fergie's part in the song and I liked will.i.am's opener but that's about it.

Come on Black Eyed Peas, this is gonna be your final CD. You could have at least gone out with a bang, but you just gave a wimpy boom boom pow.

You can purchase the song on iTunes. The CD will be released June 2, 2009

Black Eyed Peas Official Site: http://www.blackeyedpeas.com/

OPINION CENTER
Rating: C-
Comments: Not the Black Eyed Peas's sound, lacks beat and original flavor.

Friday Night Lights Season 3 Review

I have loved this show since it started almost three years ago and this season is the best yet.

In season 3 all of the main characters enter their senior year and they begin to make life-long choices that are both good and bad. This is a show that anyone can watch and love.

This season two characters have left the show; Smash and Jason. I liked how Smash left the show. He went to college which is the road he needed to take, but I hated how Jason left. The whole act that he moved to New York City to live with his one-night-stand and 4-month old baby was a little far-fetched.

Friday Night Lights official site: http://www.nbc.com/Friday_Night_Lights/

You can purchase seasons 1 and 2 on amazon.com and pre-order for season 3 is also now available.

OPINION CENTER
Rating: A-
Age Group: 14+
Comments: Great show, but some story lines aren't believable

Quiet Strength Review

I recently finished Quiet Strength by former NFL coach, Tony Dungy. This was his first book. It was a memoir about his life up to when he led the Colts to victory at Superbowl XLI.

His book wasn't about football, it was about the life lessons he learned and taught THROUGH football. He tells of his bumpy childhood but also all the obstacles he hurtled.

His children are mentioned in the book a lot as well as his wife, Lauren.

This was a very good book that I enjoyed reading and I think that everyone could learn a lot from the teachings of Tony Dungy.

You can purchase this book at http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Strength-Principles-Practices-Priorities/dp/1414318022/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237738972&sr=8-1

OPINION CENTER
Rating: A
Age Group: 13+
Comments: Great read, good lessons learned