Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Definitely the better one.

Wow, it's been quite a while since i published my last blog. WHAT IS GOING ON???
Well I think I know what it is.
IT'S EXAM WEEK NEXT WEEK and I am really stressed out. There's a lot to worry about especially because I am a grad. I need good grades to keep my admission at the university. By the way I did get into The University of New Brunswick. This is exciting. I'm really looking forward to it. Your own car, your room or apartment depending on what you chose to do. In my case, the university is just walking distance away so I'm pretty much staying home. It's definitely worth it as you'll be saving a lot of money throughout the year and eventually, depending on how many scholarships you have, you may just be out of the undergrad program debt free. That's what I'm looking at. Scholarships applications is such an hectic process. I literally have to stay up all night to finish these applications because of the number of essays you have to write.
Anyways to the topic. Guess what?!
I watched Sherlock Holmes. Doesn't surprise you does it? I know I have to study for exams but I had to give myself a little break. I'm sure you'd do that too. Don't you lie. Now, when you think of Sherlock Holmes, something pops into your head, a magnifying glass in one hand and a pipe in the other with Sherlock just doing boring discussions and figuring out cases, an image that had been put in every child's head. But like the first one this movie definitely wasn't that. Sherlock Holmes, who is played by Robert Downey Jr., like I said before, brings the funny to the movie, partners up with his long time companion Dr. Watson, who is played by Jude Law. They get drawn even deeper into Holmes manic quest to unravel the web of murder, corruption and blackmail that Moriarty, played by Jarred Harris, has woven. Dr. Watson, who is getting married, plans to leave his crime solving life behind. After Holmes gets hold of a few pivotal clues about Moriarty’s nefarious plot, the evil genius decides that he has been putting off the problem of Sherlock Holmes for far too long, and decides to strike at the detective by targeting those closest to him. Holmes convinces Dr. Watson to come along on this case and they begin their odyssey across Europe following each and very clue that leads them closer and closer to Moriarty. Even with Holmes wittiness, cleverness and allies, they find that Moriarty is always a step ahead of them. But eventually, after all the amazing action, gripping, witty and clever scenes, they end up killing him. Oops, SPOILER ALERT. A Game of Shadows retains most of the best qualities of the first film: Downey’s charm and sense of humor, the witty banter and strong chemistry between Holmes and Watson, the slow-motion sequences that illustrate Holmes’ analytical powers at work, which never fails to amaze me. Jarred Harris does an amazing job playing the villain Moriarty which makes me actually like him as a villain. Just saying.
Anyways, the story is gripping. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, it keeps giving you more and it definitely gives you more than you expected. It's funny as well, and not one of those old boring detective stories. It's a must watch and out of the two parts, I personally preferred A Game of Shadows. GO WATCH IT.

TINTIN IS AWESOME.

It's been a couple of days since I published my last blog entry, but I'm going to be honest here, after I watched The Adventures of Tintin in 3D, I bought all of the Tintin comic books and have been sort of busy making my way through the 25 books. I have read them before but this time I wanted to own all of the comics in the series. Hergé is a brilliant writer. It's a pity he's dead, otherwise he definitely would've written more masterpieces. Anyways wow, just wow, that movie was mind blowing. Funny and intense at the same time. People don't know what they're taking about when they say, meh, that movie is just for kids. Are you kidding me? Haven't you read any of the Tintin comics in your life? Ever? The movie is definitely worth every penny. Captain Haddock is hilarious, a unique character I must say. The movie is basically about Tintin being curious about the commotion around the ship called The Unicorn. He heads out along with his dog snowy to investigate, since he was a reporter, he thought this would make an interesting story. Tintin finds out that this ship was sunk by Captain Haddocks ancestor and the ship carried a secret precious cargo, which happened to be the Kings fortune in gold and gems. The ship was attacked by pirates so Sir Francis Haddock, Captain Haddocks ancestor, decides to sink the ship to prevent the the gold from going into the wrong hands. As the years go by, Sakharine, a descendant of the pirate who was going to take over The Unicorn, decides to go after the treasure and to do that he must find the scrolls that lead to the location of this sunken treasure. The scrolls are hidden in 3 models of The Unicorn and Tintin happened to buy one of the models. He later finds the scroll hidden in the ship and keeps it. Sakharine trying to steal the model from Tintin and kidnapping him arises even more curiosity. Why did Sakharine want the scrolls so bad? Tintin first meets Haddock on the ship he was being transported on. Haddock was drunk and upset because Sakharine had turned the crew of his own ship against him. Tintin and haddock escape the ship together to look for the treasure since it's said that only a true Haddock can discover the location of the treasure and they eventually do, after all the gripping action scenes and getting their hands on the remaining scrolls. The movie sure does keep you on the edge of your seat. Jamie Bell voices Tintin, Andy Serkis voices Haddock and Daniel Craig voices Sakharine and they do a pretty good job. This movie is a must watch for all ages. It's interesting, gripping, suspenseful and exciting. The visuals are amazing especially in 3D. The characters are highly detailed. Animation has been taken to a whole new level. The movie was just amazing, well it's kind of expected since it's directed by Steven Spielberg. And I definitely recommend reading the comics as well if you haven read them already. They're worth a read.

80s music making a comeback?

I have noticed something really interesting these days, the younger generation is starting to embrace the culture and music of the 80's. I have to say, the 80's is back in fashion. I've been downloading quite a few tracks these days, especially R&B tracks and as I listened to them, I was pretty surprised at the resemblance to the music from the 80's. Music these days is showing a shift towards the sounds and the relaxed attitude of this decade. As far as individuality goes, the artists back in the 80's had distinct personalities in fashion as well as in music. It's actually good to know that big artists like Lady Gaga are adopting to that kind of culture. And as you can see from the award shows Lady Gaga attended over the past couple of years, she has been the most distinguished artist from the crowd and winning awards for best artist of the year and album of the year etc. also being nominated for various other awards. The synth sound is back in popular music. R&B is also starting to embrace the synths. When I heard the song, Dedication to my Ex by Llyod, I actually thought that this song was from back then only being shocked to find out that the song was recently released in 2011. Not that I'm saying it's a bad song, it's actually pretty good but I was surprised to see how much the 80's sounds had influenced this song and how much it had influenced Lloyd himself. Artists like Lady Gaga, Ke$ha and Katy Perry have also shamelessly embraced synths into their music, and look how far up their songs are on the charts. Many people are criticizing that the artists are changing their styles in music. But it's actually great to see that many artists like Usher are actually welcoming the changes into their music and growing as an artist. Personally, I feel the same kind of sounds in music cannot last for very long, the artists must go with the flow and adapt changes into their music to keep up their reputation. The listeners love new and different music. That's what the singers and bands need to provide them with. But this shouldn't mean the artists completely change their original genre or the type of music that they actually make. Staying true to your original sound is very important. My opinion on this change is actually pretty good. I love it and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.

What is that guy wearing?! Are those TOE SHOES??

"What the heck are those?"

"What the heck are those?" This is definitely what runs through ones mind when he or she sees someone wearing the Vibram FiveFingers or notices them on a shelf at a shoe store. I saw a pair at SportChek at the local mall, and to be honest those were the weirdest things I had ever ever seen, maybe because I've never seen something like that before. But now that I think of it, the're pretty cool. When I tried them on I felt like wasn't wearing any shoes and I could feel the ground completely, like i would when I don't have shoes on. They were light and pretty flexible. So I decided to do little bit of research on what was up with these shoes and what they were meant to do. At first I thought they were just for rock climbing, but it turns out it's meant for everything like everyday wear, running and even workout. I must say I was a little bit surprised to read that, I mean who would ever think those are running shoes? Who came up with this idea? He's a complete genius. Anyways so when I was looking up the details, I found out that that the reason these shoes were made was because traditional shoes get in the way of the optimum functionality of our feet. The functionality of our feet is maximized when we're barefoot. I mean most of you would have noticed you run faster with no shoes on, I know I run faster without my shoes. In fact, I run without shoes at some running events. We evolved without any shoes, so these shoes are made with the idea of evolution of mankind in mind. Since each of your toes are separated you have more toe room, you can easily spread them and they won't be constrained in your shoes like they are in regular shoes. You can move them whenever you want without having to take your shoes off. These shoes put the heels in neutral, flat position which is good and healthy for you. Apparently, this what the stars are wearing these days and I'm pretty sure I know why, they are extremely comfortable and you feel like you have no shoes on. You can imagine how it would feel to wear a pair of shoes like that. I want a pair of those ASAP. I'm pretty sure you will too!

DOOMSDAY? 2012: The Real Deal.

"DOOMSDAY?"

As we go into 2012, you must be wondering is the world really going to end? Will December 21st, 2012 be the end of the human as a species? Or will the whole planet, or even the whole universe end? What's going to happen? And what can we really believe?
There has been quite a bit of controversy around the topic of 2012. A huge number of predictions on what really is going to happen on "Doomsday" have been made. I've done a lot of reading, and frankly, every source has a different story to tell, but one article in particular did catch my attention. It was interesting and sounded more reasonable than Alien abductions, meteor showers, large scale terrorist attacks and the stopping of the rotation of our Earth. Yeah like the Earths ever going to stop spinning. December 21st, 2012 has been predicted as a time of global transformation or even the end of the world, depending what you have read, heard or watched. Anyways, the article I read was rather interesting. I'm just going to summarize it here. 2012 is a high energy year, we need to take into our bodies the energy coming in from the Universe. All these changes to Earth such as the change in speed of the rotation of the planet, changes to the frequency of Earth or planetary alignment have happened before and well we're still around aren't we? So in your face "Doomsday." 2012 is also predicted to lift the global consciousness and we must work together to grow spiritually, which in return will benefit you in more than just one way. The prophecies DO NOT say that the world is going to come to an end, instead they say that the Earth is going to go through immense change. And NO we are definitely not going to be abducted by Aliens the way Hollywood portrays it. That reminds me of the movie 2012, have you ever wondered why there is only one survivor or a couple of survivors that make it through these cataclysmic events? How do they survive while the others just magically disappear.
Some might think that this is the end of the world and some may look at this as a new beginning, now that's up to you on what you want to believe. I was just researching and this article caught my attention, and I personally feel that this seems more reasonable. Don't you?