Reviews by Friends of mag1803178

MikeMaroon says "Up, Up and Away My Beautiful, My Beautiful Balloons." about Up

MikeMaroon — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:40:13 GMT

Pixar Animation Studios' UP is one of the reasons I bought a Blu-Ray player. The lastest, greatest visual feast cooked up by Pixar's animators dazzles with it's rich, layered textures that are as bright as the balloons carrying Carl's house to South America.

If you don't know by now that quality and Pixar are virtual synonyms, then you just haven't been paying attention. For, while the new animation is detailed and breath taking, they really take a back seat to the story.

UP, opens with a young Carl Fredrickson(voiced by Lou Grant, er Ed Asner) watching a MovieTone news real (excellently crafted by the animators to make us wonder if it's real footage at first) featuring his hero and all around explorer Charles F. Muntz (Christopher Plummer). The reel is significant to our story as it dipicts Muntz being disgraced when scientists examining his latest find deem it a fake. Muntz vows to return to the place he got the skeleton and come back with the real thing, to vindicate himself. ...

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MikeMaroon says "You WISH Your High School Glee Club Sounded this Good" about Glee: The Music Vol. 1 [11/3] by Original TV Soundtrack

MikeMaroon — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:51:57 GMT

One of the unexpected and exciting things that happened just after the debut of the new Fox TV series "Glee", was the songs performed on the show immediately shot to the top of th ITunes sales charts. It's easy to see why. While an album of covers by the cast of a sitcom could have easily been a karaoke CD, these performers are much too talented to let that happen.

Glee: The Music, Volume 1 features performances from the show by the cast members. And those cast member got some pipes. In case you don't know the TV show, and you should, I reviewed that earlier, that Glee. It's one of the best new shows of the season, in large part because of the excellent musical numbers performed by the cast, who include Broadway vets Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison. This first in a series of albums of music from the show is an immediate Top 10 hit on the ITunes album chart, and for good reason. This is an eclectic bunch of songs representing a lot of genres from classic rock to pop to hip...

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MikeMaroon says "Finding Hope in The Worst Kind of Personal Tragedy." about Steven Curtis Chapman - Beauty Will Rise

MikeMaroon — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:21:39 GMT

May 21, 2008 was to be a special day at the Chapman home in Franklin, TN. Steven Curtis and Mary Beth were about to celebrate both their daughter's engagement and the high school graduation of their eldest son. Then, something horrible happened. As one of their sons pulled into the driveway he didn't see his little 5-year old sister Maria. His vehicle struck and killed her, leaving Christian music's most successful singer/songwriter to cope with unspeakable pain, the loss of one child and to father another through heart-numbing guilt. I myself have a 5-year-old little girl and the thought of such a thing is something I cannot bear.

Beauty Will Rise is Mr Chapman's love letter to his lost little girl and a raw look at him working through his pain. With sparse arraignments and acoustic guitar, he publicly wrestles with pain only a father who has lost a child can experience.

He said that, after he lost Maria, he honestly...

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MikeMaroon says "Play On, Carrie, Play On." about Play On [11/3] * by Carrie Underwood

MikeMaroon — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:26:01 GMT

It is my belief Carrie Underwood is the best singer to graduate from American Idol. She has an almost perfect voice and the range of Celine Dion. Loves ya Kelly. Respects ya Adam. But Carrie, she da man, er, woman. She really showcases those gorgeous pipes of hers on Play On, her third and definitely most pop-leaning album yet. Shania, watch your back.

And Ms Underwood went to the studio determined to hit a massive homerun this time. She very nearly succeeds. Bringing in the the ringers, like producers Mike Elizondo and Max Martin along with writers Brett James, Tom Shapiro, and Paul Overstreet, Carrie presents us with an eclectic group of songs that sometimes feels like pandering but mostly feels like a nice variety.

Kicking things off with her already huge radio hit, Cowboy Casanova, Elizondo imparts a juiced-up dance hall flavor that sounds like an attempt to bring back line-dancing. With Underwood's booming vocals, this "warning" song is sure to have urban cowboys...

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MikeMaroon says "It's a Great Day for America Everybody! Ferguson Wrote a Book!" about American On Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot

MikeMaroon — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:48:27 GMT

I like biographies. Always have. One of the first ones I remember reading was about Hammerin' Hank Aaron. Don't remember the title, but if you don't know who he is, you must not be American. But Craig Ferguson is, and he's proud of it. American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot is the story of how a young man born in Glasgow, Scotland realized a dream he formulated very early in life, to come to America. See he had, and apparently still has, a view of this county only someone who wasn't raised here can have. That it's the best place in the world to be living. Unlike an awful lot of us, he considers himself lucky to be an American.

Telling us right in the preface that, "This is not journalism. This is just my story.", Mr Ferguson proceeds to craft a fine piece of writing that spares us the self-indulgent "pat-my-own-back" mentality found in a lot of Hollywood memoirs. What we get, instead is the man who became famous as Mr. Wick on the Drew...

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