Archive | February, 2014

Pop Culture Reflection: Paying Tribute To ‘Ghostbusters’ Actor Harold Ramis

26 Feb
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I took this photo of the Ghostbusters car at a museum exhibit in 2008

I was deeply saddened to hear that Ghostbusters actor and comedy writer Harold Ramis passed away on Monday.

According to article on Today.com he died from complications to auto-immune inflammatory vasculitis and he was only 69 years old.

I want to pay tribute to his brilliant work which includes hits like Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, Stripes and of course mega blockbuster Ghostbusters which also has one catchy theme.

I loved Ghostbusters as a kid even though some of the scenes use to scare me a little. Ramis playing his cool science guy character as Dr. Egon Spengler is his most notable role.

An article on People.com showed a photo of Twinkies being left by fans outside the Ghostbusters Firehouse in New York in memory of Ramis. I thought that was awesome. Below is a link from Ghostbusters.net You Tube channel of the famous scene.

My personal favorite film is Stripes. Ramis along with comedic actor Bill Murray were great on-screen together.

The film is a gem with its simple plot of two friends dissatisfied with their situations who decide to join the army. The comedic results of this plan along with all of the memorable lines make this a genius hit comedy.

Below is a link from Movieclips You Tube channel  of one of the many funny scenes from Stripes.

Ramis was definitely a man of talent who wrote great hit movies that I will always remember and appreciate.

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Pop Culture Reflection: The Tonight Show

19 Feb
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My welcome poster to Fallon

I think Jimmy Fallon delivered a stellar debut in New York on Monday as Tonight Show host with his first guests Will Smith and U2.

His opening remark kicked things off in the right direction:

“I’m Jimmy Fallon and I’ll be your host … for now!”

The joke was a light-hearted reference to his predecessor Jay Leno leaving then coming back to host The Tonight Show after the clash between the network and Conan O’Brien four years ago.

I’ll miss Jay Leno but he had a good 22 year run on the show and I’m looking forward to Fallon taking the reigns.

I was a fan of Fallon’s comedy from his Saturday Night Live days and I especially like when he does his ‘Late Night Superlatives’.

Some of my favorite highlights was seeing celebrities like Rudy Guliani, Mike Tyson, Lady Gaga and many more walking up to drop money onto Fallon’s desk for losing the bet that he would become The Tonight Show host.

His evolution of hip-hop dancing with Smith was the best part for me because I remember actually doing those dances in middle school like The Running Man and Kid ‘N Play. My two favorites that had me laughing the most was The Stanky Legg and The Steal The Face Then Swallow It And Throw It Back Up. (I included the You Tube clip below because it’s too hilarious to miss)

Now, I have not listened to U2 since they released Zooropa in 1993 but I did think the live performance on top of the Rockefeller Center was cool and I also liked the acoustic performance of Ordinary Love.

I have always related to Fallon because he appreciates the same 90’s era sitcoms and alternative bands that I like, such as Pearl Jam and shows like Saved By The Bell.

I look forward to his future with The Tonight Show.

This is the link from The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon You Tube channel for the hip-hop dancing clip.

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Pop Culture Reflection: The Beatles 50th Anniversary CBS Special

12 Feb
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My illustration tribute to The Beatles

Great moments took place during Sunday night’s CBS special for The Beatles 50th anniversary of their live appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Their performance on February 9th, 1964 changed America or known in popular culture as what started Beatlemania.

Surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr sat together during the show as the band’s history and bios got covered. The night featured big name artists paying tribute like Dave Grohl, Stevie Wonder, Katy Perry, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn and many more.

Members of John Lennon and George Harrison’s family were there. Harrison’s widow Olivia was in the audience and Sean Lennon sported a shaggy spit in’ image look of his father while he stood next to his mother Yoko Ono.

A few notable artists that I felt delivered great performances of The Beatles classics were Maroon 5 who did a stellar cover of All my Loving as well as Alicia Keys and John Legend who delivered a nice rendition of Let it Be.

I thought it was cool that while artists were performing their tribute’s the camera would turn to McCartney and Starr whose faces seemed so honored as they clapped along and mouthed the words to their songs.

McCartney performed I Saw Her Standing There which is one of my favorite songs and I also enjoyed when Ringo played Boys and of course hearing him do Yellow Submarine was awesome.

The closing part of the night was the best when they performed together again doing With A Little Help From My Friends and then Ringo on drums for Hey Jude. Their whole performance gave me goosebumps.

The Beatles are my best friend’s favorite band and they are a classic iconic band that hold a special place in my heart too.  We each differ in who our favorite Beatle is and which album is our favorite but their brilliance as a band is never an argument.

For the record, Ringo is my favorite Beatle while Lennon is my best friends favorite. I also believe her favorite album is The White Album while mine is Magical Mystery Tour.

I found a link from The Beatles You Tube channel showing some of the The Ed Sullivan performance, enjoy.

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Gem of the Week: Top Five Albums Turning 20

5 Feb
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My tribute to the music of ’94

I got inspired to compile a top five list of great albums from 1994 after reading an article on Stereogum.com about how Green Day’s Dookie album just turned 20 years old.

Here are my top five albums from ’94 (of course I’m including Dookie) that are now 20 years old :

5. Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral 

I was one of those 14-year-old teen girls that loved Trent Reznor. I could care less about him now but this album was in my Walkman all the time. Songs like March of Pigs, Terrible Lie, Hurt and Closer make this album a gem. The Downward Spiral should become a requirement to  every grunge music fan’s collection from 1994.

4. The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready To Die 

This is a great hip-hop album that came out during the time when west coast rappers like 2Pac  dominated the scene. Biggie put the east coast sound into mainstream with his hit single Juicy and then Big Poppa  (’95) from this debut album. I have mentioned before that I can’t get into todays hip-hop. When Biggie rapped it was real venting and he delivered with passion.  My favorite jam off the album is Gimme The Loot.

3. Live – Throwing Copper

Lead singer Ed Kowalczyk and myself share something in common and that is we both love R.E.M.  I listened to this album a lot and the hits from this album were all catchy: Selling the Drama, I Alone, Lightning Crashes and All Over You. Live writes songs that are awesome lyrically as well as musically.

2. Green Day – Dookie

This really was an influential breakthrough album with hits like Longview, Basket Case and When I Come Around.  While Green Day has matured and grown so much as a band over the past 20 years, I still carry that first impression of their goofy teen image in the video for Longview. Dookie is pure brilliance and to think of how lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong was only 18 years old at the time is crazy but then again he continues being a true talent.

1. R.E.M – Monster 

Aside from them being my favorite band, I felt this venture into a harder sound totally worked out making this a great album. Every single minute of this album rocks with big hits like: Whats The Frequency, Kenneth?, Star 69, Bang and Blame, Strange Currencies and my personal favorite song off the album, I Don’t Sleep, I Dream. I can still listen through Monster over and over again.

I narrowed my top five list to reflect what I listened to the most and I left off a few of my veteran favorites from the ’94 era like: Pear Jam, Nirvana, Sound Garden, Rancid and Tori Amos.

I’m happy those five gems are in my collection because they came from a great defining year in music.

I included a link from Greenday’s You Tube channel for the classic video Longview.

 

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