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Grease: Still Rockin’ After All These Years!

Grease: Rockin’ Rydell Edition
Paramount Pictures
Starring: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conway, and Frankie Avalon
Rated PG
Running Tim: 110 minutes
Now Available

Before he wore a dress, a rubber latex body suit, and starred in 2007’s Hairspray, John Travolta danced and sang his way through the hit 1978 musical Grease. Thirty years later, Continue reading “Grease: Still Rockin’ After All These Years!”

Schoolhouse Rock! Still Rockin’ in 2008!

Schoolhouse Rock!: Election Collection
Disney DVD
Running Time: 49 minutes (15 shorts)
Release Date: September 23, 2008

So, here we are on the eve of the 2008 presidential election. A couple firsts this time around: first African-American presidential candidate (Barack Obama), and the first female Vice-Presidential candidate (Sarah Palin). Oh, and it’s the first time in 20 years that a Clinton or Bush isn’t on the presidential ticket! What better way Continue reading “Schoolhouse Rock! Still Rockin’ in 2008!”

Concert DVD Review – AC/DC’s No Bull: the Director’s Cut

AC/DC has typically been known for putting on one Hell of a show after another. Their performance in Madrid, Spain in 1996 is certainly no exception.

The band consists of very visual performers who truly interact with their audiences and aim to put on a thrilling show. The DVD starts as the concert does. In front of what feels like millions of screaming fans, a giant wrecking ball demolishes a fake on-stage building, leaving an empty stage in need of rocking.

Continue reading “Concert DVD Review – AC/DC’s No Bull: the Director’s Cut”

Concert DVD Review – John Mayer: Where The Light Is

Concert DVDs have to be tailor-made to fit the desires of uber fans of the particular artist at hand. Let’s face it, a person typically doesn’t want to sit and watch a two-and-a-half-hour concert of someone they’re barely familiar with. It can get boring if you’re not a fan. That’s why filmmakers sprinkle in candid moments with the performers and backstage hijinx.

That being said, if you aren’t a fan then you might not enjoy this particular DVD. There are several other concerts available on DVD that would entertain even those completely unfamiliar with the performers. And while I did enjoy Where the Light Is, I would not put it in that category.

Continue reading “Concert DVD Review – John Mayer: Where The Light Is”

Pandora Internet Radio to Fall; Grooveshark to Rise?

I remember first going to Pandora. The site asked me to enter some of my favourite artists. I did. And then it told me that it will play other artists similar to the one I entered. “Excellent!” I utter. I expected a chat room where someone will search up artists. But nope. It was all automated. It was amazing.

It wasn’t perfect, and Last.fm was larger and more attractive, but Pandora was unique. It was the most accurate when it came to recommendations, because of the Music Genome Project, while Last.fm relied on users’ listening habits. But it did not last. As royalties for Internet radio were on the rise, Pandora had to cut access to foreign visitors.

That left me cut out, although I do remember accessing the site once without a proxy and using it for some 20 minutes before expiring my song quota. Could never replicate that moment, but what the hell, it was cool. I really sympathised with Pandora, partly because of the polite apology letter they left for foreign visitors.

Looks like it’s finally time for Pandora to hang up its boots once and for all. SoundExchange is putting on some draconian fees for Internet radio, which is going to hurt Pandora like hell. Royalties have been projected to reach 2.91 cents per listener at 2010. Pandora and others are attempting to petition SoundExchange, but we all know how petitions work.

If it ends up unsuccessful, Pandora will have to pay a whopping 70% of their projected 2008 revenue. Tim Westergren, owner of Pandora says that the minute such an event occurs, Pandora may have to shut shop, which isn’t very surprising. Will this be the demise of free, dynamic Internet radio?

Meanwhile, a new contender has come up to rise the ranks of Internet music. Grooveshark appears to be a brand new site similar to Pandora and Last.fm in that it is a music recommendation system. It appears to be undergoing maintenance right now, so I can’t check it out, but the guys at Mashable seem to have really liked it, so take a look.