It’s the most wonderful time of the year: mashup release time! There are three artists who do year-end mashups that I look forward to, and now that they’ve all released their goods and I've had time to let the songs and videos sink in, it's time to rank them!
3. DJ Earworm United State of Pop
• Without a doubt the most well-known of the year-end mashup DJs, and I enjoy that Earworm attempts to rework the lyrics into a completely new song, and the video into something brand new. Since he’s from the UK, sometimes I don’t know all of the songs he uses, but nonetheless his skill in changing tempos at the drop of a hat is always impressive. Unfortunately I found this year's creation a little boring.
2. Mashup Germany Top of the Pops 2013
• Despite the random German songs that inevitably get thrown into these mashups, I still really enjoy how they are crafted year after year, well meshed and without excessive complication. Honestly, the random German songs are refreshing! This is a very nice mix, very nice video, my only complaint is that I haaaaate "Hey Brother" by Avicii and it's the main track in this mashup.
3. Pop Danthology 2013
• Daniel Kim is Canadian so he usually picks songs that are specifically popular in my part of the world, which I deeply appreciate. He’s dropped some killer combos in this mix, I particularly like the music for Gaga’s “Applause” mixed with the vocals for Zedd’s “Clarity”. Also, he mashed the vocals for Selena Gomez’s “Come And Get It” with the Harlem Shake, amazing. My favourite this year, the video just blows me away with its accuracy and effectiveness. However, I'm sad to say that this is actually the worst of his mashups, but that's no fault of Daniel's, it's just that music this year sucked. :P
Dec 27, 2013
Dec 10, 2013
Review – Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Full disclosure: I only read the first Hunger games book and the first third of Catching Fire (it was a pdf copy and I just couldn’t continue). But I’ve read the synopsis on Wikipedia so I know the major deaths/outcomes and conclusion. I am NOT ready for that terrible terrible death that happens in Mockingjay. D:
Katniss was always cool, we all know that, but this was the movie that made me really adore her. Katniss is everything teenaged me would have wanted to be, and everything that adult me realizes I could never be. She is a rule breaker, the girl who doesn’t smile when you ask her to unless it serves her purpose, confused and bold, impassioned behind a mask of ice. But beyond all that, she is powerful and competent and a threat. Her actions, no matter how insignificant, can topple an empire. She is the unwilling metaphor who did not wish for the future she was given, but love and family thrust her down a path she could have never predicted.
The only times I ever teared up in the movie were the parts with Cinna and Effie. Oh my gosh Cinna, Kravitz is like a beacon of pure sanity in these movies, there is nothing I do not like about him. I love that he used fashion to stick it to the empire, even though it cost him in the end. But I get the feeling he knew what he was doing when he took that chance with Katniss’ dress. And Effie, oh my gosh Effie, I totally bawled every time she was like “we’re a TEAM and I will bedeck the TEAM so help me god”, like, bless your heart my dear, you love your bb victors so damn much and she was SO NOT COOL with the Quarterquell.
When I first started getting into the Hunger Games series, I was massively on Team Gale because I wanted Katniss to be with someone she had already felt longterm friendship/affection for, not someone the system had coerced her into pretending to love. But then I read what happened in Mockingjay and, well, as my Chinese coworker said, “he went all communist by the end, ugh.” But Peeta definitely is growing on me, especially once I read all the articles about how the Peeta/Katniss relationship is basically gender-flipped tropes. Peeta is compassionate and emotional and bakes bread and Katniss has to save his ass all the time? Beautiful. I am NOT ready to watch what happens to him in Mockingjay.
But I found it interesting that compared to the books, they definitely tweaked how Katniss felt about both Peeta and Gale. In the books she’s very “how the hell should I know what love is?” but in the movies she’s more like “you’re both lovely but now is not the time dammit!”
I do wonder though, what the heck the rest of the world is thinking while shit goes down in Panem. Like, I guess Panem gave the United Nations the middle finger or something? And, like, China and Indian are just watching from afar and shaking their heads while curing cancer and sending space missions to Mars? And do Canadians download illegal bootlegs of the Hunger Games and watch it going “wtf eh?” NEW HEADCANNON.
But seriously though am I the only one weirded out by the lack of Asian people in the Hunger Games movies? It’s not the best series diversity-wise. Hell, they even upped the ante with a “token black district”. :P
Katniss was always cool, we all know that, but this was the movie that made me really adore her. Katniss is everything teenaged me would have wanted to be, and everything that adult me realizes I could never be. She is a rule breaker, the girl who doesn’t smile when you ask her to unless it serves her purpose, confused and bold, impassioned behind a mask of ice. But beyond all that, she is powerful and competent and a threat. Her actions, no matter how insignificant, can topple an empire. She is the unwilling metaphor who did not wish for the future she was given, but love and family thrust her down a path she could have never predicted.
The only times I ever teared up in the movie were the parts with Cinna and Effie. Oh my gosh Cinna, Kravitz is like a beacon of pure sanity in these movies, there is nothing I do not like about him. I love that he used fashion to stick it to the empire, even though it cost him in the end. But I get the feeling he knew what he was doing when he took that chance with Katniss’ dress. And Effie, oh my gosh Effie, I totally bawled every time she was like “we’re a TEAM and I will bedeck the TEAM so help me god”, like, bless your heart my dear, you love your bb victors so damn much and she was SO NOT COOL with the Quarterquell.
When I first started getting into the Hunger Games series, I was massively on Team Gale because I wanted Katniss to be with someone she had already felt longterm friendship/affection for, not someone the system had coerced her into pretending to love. But then I read what happened in Mockingjay and, well, as my Chinese coworker said, “he went all communist by the end, ugh.” But Peeta definitely is growing on me, especially once I read all the articles about how the Peeta/Katniss relationship is basically gender-flipped tropes. Peeta is compassionate and emotional and bakes bread and Katniss has to save his ass all the time? Beautiful. I am NOT ready to watch what happens to him in Mockingjay.
But I found it interesting that compared to the books, they definitely tweaked how Katniss felt about both Peeta and Gale. In the books she’s very “how the hell should I know what love is?” but in the movies she’s more like “you’re both lovely but now is not the time dammit!”
I do wonder though, what the heck the rest of the world is thinking while shit goes down in Panem. Like, I guess Panem gave the United Nations the middle finger or something? And, like, China and Indian are just watching from afar and shaking their heads while curing cancer and sending space missions to Mars? And do Canadians download illegal bootlegs of the Hunger Games and watch it going “wtf eh?” NEW HEADCANNON.
But seriously though am I the only one weirded out by the lack of Asian people in the Hunger Games movies? It’s not the best series diversity-wise. Hell, they even upped the ante with a “token black district”. :P
Dec 6, 2013
Nestlé: Crappy Chocolate, Even Crappier Globalized Marketing
Source:
WHAT THE HELL. I knew Nestlé was full of shenanigans when I heard they aggressively market baby formula to poor women in lesser developed countries when it’s not really effective nutrition(here’s a good article that gets into that particular issue), but this is just ridic. People can survive 1-3 weeks on starvation but only ~3 days with dehydration! People have a RIGHT to water.
At the World Water Forum in 2000, Nestlé led the way in fighting against defining access to water a universal right. Nestlé and other big corporations won out, and government officials around the globe officially downgraded water’s classification to a "need" instead.
WHAT THE HELL. I knew Nestlé was full of shenanigans when I heard they aggressively market baby formula to poor women in lesser developed countries when it’s not really effective nutrition(here’s a good article that gets into that particular issue), but this is just ridic. People can survive 1-3 weeks on starvation but only ~3 days with dehydration! People have a RIGHT to water.
Dec 2, 2013
Pre-Hogwarts Premonition!
When I was a teenager, I somehow acquired a CD with a Tchaikovsky compilation on it: Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty. Let me tell you, if that CD had been a record I would have wore the grooves out, haha. I liked listening to music for an hour or so before bed and that CD was one of my favourites, especially the Nutcracker songs, I basically memorized every song. One night, I listened to the full Nutcracker Suite and drifted off to sleep right after, and had a dream that my high school decided to organize a ball during Christmas, and all the girls dressed up in huge Victorian hoop dresses with lots of ribbons and tulle and satin. Mine was a pale blue, like Cinderella’s gown in the Disney movie. I remember in the dream we had to dance to Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers” and I was freaked because I didn’t actually know how to waltz but managed to get through it anyway.
I just remembered this dream today and thought: “Wait... isn’t that basically the Yule Ball from the Harry Potter books?!” I DREAMED IT FIRST! :P
I just remembered this dream today and thought: “Wait... isn’t that basically the Yule Ball from the Harry Potter books?!” I DREAMED IT FIRST! :P
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