You might remember Lenka from an email I sent a while back concerning this song.
Trouble is a Friend
Back then, I didn't especially like any song on that album except Trouble is a Friend, and I liked that mostly for the imaginative lyrics and video and less for the music. Either my tastes have changed or I wasn't in the mood for her kind of music that day, because I've relistened to the album, and I love it now. Why did I relisten to it? Why, I might counter, did I use the non-word "relisten?" But that has nothing to do with this. I relistened because she recently released her second album, and I really liked that one. I suggest you check out both.
Here are a couple samples from her new album, Two.
Everything at Once
Roll with the Punches
And from her first album, Lenka.
Like a Song (this one's especially beautiful melody-wise)
Like a Song Instrumental Cover (this is just a plain piano version of the song; you can skip it if you like, but it's nice.)
There's lots more. Every song is at least okay, and most are inspired. Also, I love how Lenka looks like a Who. Like, from Whoville, you know?
Catlovers consider sneezing a privilege.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Thor and Megamind
This made me smile. I'm actually quite excited about this movie now. Just a month or two till it comes out!
Speaking of videos that made me smile, I liked Megamind more than Tangled, but not as much as How to Train your Dragon. (That's probably just me. I didn't have as strong a reaction to Tangled as most people did.)
Loved by none but his minion, a young alien finds he possesses considerable skill at screwing up, being bad, so he becomes a supervillain and chooses the title Megamind (Incredibly Handsome Criminal Genius and Master of all Villainy). However, when he loses his super-heroic nemesis, he needs a hero. To fight. So he creates one, or tries to, but everything goes backwards, and suddenly he has a villain on his hands and HE has to be the heroic nemesis.
Megamind is a sympathetic villain for most of the movie because not many people like him, he loses constantly, and he's flawed, but he's also cheerful, persistent, kindhearted, and a wee bit lovable. It helps a lot that Megamind actually says sorry for all he's done and changes his ways, especially since, at the start of the movie, he's a kidnapper, a murderer, unrepentant, and purposely distracting the audience with his theatrical goofiness. Well, maybe not purposely, but still. Actually, the purpose of that was probably to show that he had good in him as well as evil, and it works, especially after the good starts winning. I never once hated him. Also, the WAY he becomes good. Atypically, he doesn't turn good JUST for love, although that is a big part of it. It's also because he regrets killing Metroman and wants to balance out his own evil with the new hero he creates, a good deed even if it was for "for the greater good of bad." He also simply doesn't want the city to be destroyed. All factors add up and make the transformation more believable. I'm not against "turning good for love," but it's different this way, which is great.
Also exquisitely different, Megamind and Roxanne knew each other for years before they felt anything for each other. It wasn't love at first sight, and neither was it hate. Just acknowledgement. Only when Megamind starts becoming a new (good) person do they start falling in love, which shows that they fall in love because of who they are or are becoming, not because of their looks or any weird thing for kidnapping or being kidnapped. True, a producer of the movie SAYS Megamind is in love with Roxanne when kidnapping her, and Tina Fey SAYS Roxanne likes being kidnapped, but they're just trying to annoy me. I mean, they don't know I exist, but the Universe is using them as pawns to annoy me. And they're wrong. Megamind and Roxanne aren't in love at the start of the movie, because that doesn't make sense with the rest of the movie. Megamind explicitly says he sees no point in kidnapping Roxanne if Metroman isn't around, proving he wasn't kidnapping her to be close to her, only to pick a fight with Metroman. Furthermore, Roxanne is sarcastic when she's been kidnapped but not when she's really enjoying herself with Megamind, and she still hates the "evil" Megamind after falling in love with the "normal" Bernard until she sees definite change in Megamind. Again, she fell in love with him because of him, not how he looked, which is probably Roxanne's coolest attribute. First, she did NOT swoon over the handsome superhero, and then, she actually says looks are not a factor to her. Roxanne could have been more interesting, but at least she wasn't shallow.
The movie overall was sweet and funny, like the following autotuned clip.
Speaking of videos that made me smile, I liked Megamind more than Tangled, but not as much as How to Train your Dragon. (That's probably just me. I didn't have as strong a reaction to Tangled as most people did.)
Loved by none but his minion, a young alien finds he possesses considerable skill at screwing up, being bad, so he becomes a supervillain and chooses the title Megamind (Incredibly Handsome Criminal Genius and Master of all Villainy). However, when he loses his super-heroic nemesis, he needs a hero. To fight. So he creates one, or tries to, but everything goes backwards, and suddenly he has a villain on his hands and HE has to be the heroic nemesis.
Megamind is a sympathetic villain for most of the movie because not many people like him, he loses constantly, and he's flawed, but he's also cheerful, persistent, kindhearted, and a wee bit lovable. It helps a lot that Megamind actually says sorry for all he's done and changes his ways, especially since, at the start of the movie, he's a kidnapper, a murderer, unrepentant, and purposely distracting the audience with his theatrical goofiness. Well, maybe not purposely, but still. Actually, the purpose of that was probably to show that he had good in him as well as evil, and it works, especially after the good starts winning. I never once hated him. Also, the WAY he becomes good. Atypically, he doesn't turn good JUST for love, although that is a big part of it. It's also because he regrets killing Metroman and wants to balance out his own evil with the new hero he creates, a good deed even if it was for "for the greater good of bad." He also simply doesn't want the city to be destroyed. All factors add up and make the transformation more believable. I'm not against "turning good for love," but it's different this way, which is great.
Also exquisitely different, Megamind and Roxanne knew each other for years before they felt anything for each other. It wasn't love at first sight, and neither was it hate. Just acknowledgement. Only when Megamind starts becoming a new (good) person do they start falling in love, which shows that they fall in love because of who they are or are becoming, not because of their looks or any weird thing for kidnapping or being kidnapped. True, a producer of the movie SAYS Megamind is in love with Roxanne when kidnapping her, and Tina Fey SAYS Roxanne likes being kidnapped, but they're just trying to annoy me. I mean, they don't know I exist, but the Universe is using them as pawns to annoy me. And they're wrong. Megamind and Roxanne aren't in love at the start of the movie, because that doesn't make sense with the rest of the movie. Megamind explicitly says he sees no point in kidnapping Roxanne if Metroman isn't around, proving he wasn't kidnapping her to be close to her, only to pick a fight with Metroman. Furthermore, Roxanne is sarcastic when she's been kidnapped but not when she's really enjoying herself with Megamind, and she still hates the "evil" Megamind after falling in love with the "normal" Bernard until she sees definite change in Megamind. Again, she fell in love with him because of him, not how he looked, which is probably Roxanne's coolest attribute. First, she did NOT swoon over the handsome superhero, and then, she actually says looks are not a factor to her. Roxanne could have been more interesting, but at least she wasn't shallow.
The movie overall was sweet and funny, like the following autotuned clip.
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