Better than before

At least, now they’ve got some feelings.

That’s how I rate New Moon. After waiting for like a lifetime, the movie has been finally shown in this sleepy town where I temporarily reside. And as expected, girls swooned and squealed and fidgeted in their seats and temporarily forgot about their boyfriends and/or suddenly thought Rob Pattinson was their boyfriend the moment Edward showed up on screen. And when I said “squealed,” I mean voices were actually heard throughout the cinema from girls of all ages, including those already married for more than ten years. I didn’t know whether to laugh or be annoyed.

But as I said, New Moon is far better than Twilight. Perhaps it’s because they’ve sort of stuck to the storyline, removed the cheesy lines and acted like real actors. I would give the best acting award to Taylor Lautner. He was believable as Jacob. His range of emotions varied and wasn’t stuck to just wrinkling his brows. I actually felt for him when he asked, or rather, begged, Bella to stay behind instead of saving Edward’s pale ass. Of course, there’s Taylor’s six-pack abs. I’m sure it didn’t go unnoticed. Especially compared to Rob Pattinson’s drawn abs, which I found really laughable.

The movie was good while Rob Pattinson wasn’t in it. Taylor’s acting made Kristen Stewart look good. But when Edward showed up, Kristen’s acting would go back to just plain dead and emotionless. If it’s any consolation, Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart would make good vampires. They both look dead and emotionless. But I don’t think the population of this sleepy town didn’t notice. They were all transfixed when Edward, after pausing for the longest time, asked Bella to marry him. And the trouble with this sleepy town, when Edward proposed to Bella, the female population in the cinema suddenly believed they were the leading lady. I was waiting for some girl to actually scream “yes” at the top of their lungs. Pathetic? Yes. But funny? Definitely.

All in all, though, I got out of the cinema entertained. The fifty pesos I paid was worth it. It wasn’t devastatingly great (like 2012) but it was good enough.

New moon, same emotion.

Have you seen the movie trailer for “New Moon?” I’m probably the last one not to have seen it yet. But, in my opinion, I didn’t really miss anything. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s acting are just the same, lifeless and unfeeling. For a story that’s supposedly filled with emotions, (imagine a vampire falling in love with a human, just how many conflicting feelings could he be going through, right?), both actors miserably fail to deliver. It’s so darn disappointing!

The Twilight Saga is such an amazing story. But it doesn’t get through due to the inability of the actors. I mean, Robert Pattinson shows heartbreak by merely wrinkling his brow?! What was his motivation for that, a stomach ache? Good thing for him he got to show off his abs, probably his only saving grace. And then there’s Kristen who says “I love you” to the boy she’s crazy about like she’s reciting off a menu. For the love of all that’s holy! Jeez! My exclamation points probably show more emotion than they do. But I do think that Taylor Lautner’s acting as Jacob is better than the others. Although I still don’t think Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt should be alarmed yet at being unseated as the best vampires in the movies.

But what’s annoying is that despite my utter dislike for the depressing acting prowess of its stars, I would still go watch the New Moon movie. Argh! Here, watch me wrinkle my brow to show the conflicting emotions I feel inside.

If you’ve been hibernating inside a cave for I-don’t-know-how-long like me, you probably haven’t seen the movie trailer yet. Let me do you a favor. Enjoy this, if you can.

Humiliated, swiftly

Last night at the Jay Leno Show, Kanye West almost tearfully (take note: no actual tears were shed) apologized to Taylor Swift for his stupendous brief breakout at the 2009 MTV Award. At the time I was watching him, I believed that his was a sincere apology. But I’ve just seen the much-talked about stint and I’ve come to realize that he’s brute act was intentional.

If you’ve seen the video, you’d know that Kanye’s sudden appearance at Taylor’s side while she was accepting her first ever VMA award was not accidental. Neither could he say that he was moved by his love or admiration for Beyonce’s video. To grab a mic from the actual winner and state, for the whole world to see, that “I’m happy for you Taylor but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time” shows his utter lack of good moral character. To paraphrase U.S. Pres. Obama, “What a jackass!”

The people are not holding back their opinion. In one comment to the video posted in youtube, it was written “He’s a dick — and not a big one.” And then there’s “Why don’t you try to stick your maze shaved head up in your  and see if it fit.” I think the writer intentionally left out where Kanye should stick his head but it doesn’t require much imagination to know where that place is.

If you haven’t seen the video (you must have been hiding under a rock for the past week?), here’s the clip courtesy of Guitarmann75.

Kanye, just because you’re good at rap music doesn’t mean you’re good at everything. Nobody died and made you god.

Lame Night with Jay Leno

Last night, I eagerly (well, sort of) awaited the much talked about return of Jay Leno with his new show. I suppose I expected it to have the same big bang effect as when Conan O’brien moved to his new timeslot. Since it was supposed to be a new show, complete with a new title, you would, of course, expect a new format and new materials. But I suppose that was too much to expect.

Except for the new stage set up, the new title  and Jay Leno’ s hairdo, nothing much has changed. In fact, NBC might have saved more money if they’ve just announced that the Late Night with Jay Leno show was moving to an earlier timeslot. The show had the same lame jokes, salvaged only by the applause sign, and the same lifeless banter between Jay and Kevin Eubanks. There’s also the same segment “Headlines” although they’ve also changed the name. I expect, by next week, they’ll have “Jay Walking” and at the end of the month, “Battle of the Jay Walking All Stars.”

But then again, I’ve never been much of a Jay Leno fan. To tell the truth, I think he’s only slightly funny. David Letterman does a better job at cracking me up. And Jay can’t even compare to Conan’s sense of humor…or even his show. But I suppose choosing hosts for a fun late night show is hit and miss most of the time. I mean, look at the guy who picked Conan O’brien to host the Late Night Show (his name escapes me, darn it!). He’s the same person who chose Jimmy Fallon to replace Conan. They couldn’t be as opposite as night and day. For one thing, Conan’s funny. Jimmy Fallon, on the other hand, not so much. Don’t get me wrong, I love his performance at SNL and his movies. But he just doesn’t quite cut it at the Late Night Show. But I’ve already digressed.

I don’t have anything against Jay Leno. But he just not funny enough to keep the viewers and the ratings hooked. And that’s the bottomline.

Not another American Idol post!?

You got it! It’s another post on American Idol and about who got kicked out. All I can do is apologize now. I’m sorry, I can’t help it.

Anyway…

Since the four judges had agreed last week to save Matt Giraud from elimination (a very generous save, if I may say so), two idol hopefuls had to be booted from the show tonight. Sadly, those two were Lil Rounds and Anoop Desai.

After being hailed as one of the powerful singers in the contest, Lil Rounds still has not gotten around to showing her true personality. That’s a sad thing since it cost her the chance to become the next American Idol. She could have been a force to reckon with. She truly had a great voice. But lacking in creativity, it was no surprise she received the lowest number of votes. In fact, I had been anticipating early on when she would be leaving the show. Having seen the show since Season 3, I think true artistic sense shows very early on. In Lil’s case, her artistry was not enough, unfortunately. I suppose if she had been part of the earlier seasons of American Idol, perhaps season 1 or 2, her performance would have been acceptable. But the thing is, the show has evolved from just altering portions of a song to show some creativity. American Idol has already seen the likes of David Cook who can change an ordinary pop-ish tune to something even spectacular. That’s what Lil had to compete against. And her struggle against it was quite feeble.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t quite agree with the way America treated Anoop Desai. He has truly been performing well these last few weeks. In fact, even better than Matt Giraud had been, in my opinion. To tell the truth, after last night’s performance, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Ryan Seacrest announced that tonight was the end of the road for Matt. But, as has been observed in previous seasons, America votes in mysterious ways, or rather, for mysterious reasons. Why Jennifer Hudson or Chris Daughtry never even got far (maybe except for Christ Daughtry, he was on the top 3, after all) in  the show is still mind-boggling. But I suppose, Matt has something going for him, even if it’s just a small thing against Anoop. Matt has a little bit more charisma, I would think, than Anoop. I say “a little bit” because if Matt had more than that, he wouldn’t have kept landing in the bottom three for the past weeks, even if he didn’t really perform up to par. But I hope Anoop gets another chance at his chosen career (at least, chosen for now). I really see some good talent in him.

Meanwhile, I hope Matt realizes just how very lucky he is and start to get his act together before it’s too late and Kris Allen or Adam Lambert has already been declared the new American Idol.

*Photos courtesy of americanidol.com